Fight For Thy Heart
by DreamVixen
Summary: Kagome No Kitsune Sequel! Things settle down (Sort of) only to heat up again when more complications are thrown to Kagome and Kurama. Can they manage to keep each other close, with so many people working to break them apart?
1. Prologue

DV- _**I LIVE!!!!**_ And I bring my patient readers the offering of Kagome No Kitsune's sequel!!!  
  
Chiisai- Unfortunately.  
  
DV- Shut up, ladybug!!!  
  
Botan- I thought she was a fairy?  
  
DV- Well, fairies are bugs. Sort of. I think... Any who my uncle very generously gave me his computer for a few days, so I was able to get this up early!!!   
  
Yusuke- Lucky us.  
  
Chiisai- Your cousin's gonna skin you alive for starting without her.  
  
DV- _'shutter'_ don't remind me.  
  
Kagome- Well, DV doesn't own any of us. At the moment all her attentions are focused on surviving her visit.  
  
DV- And retaining the rest of my sanity. 'bursts into tears.' I don't wanna leave a computer **_EVER_** again!!!  
  
Everyone- O.O;;;;;;;  
  
DV- OH!!! And a very_ BIIIIIIIIIG_ Thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed for Kagome No Kitsune. I loved hearing from each and every one of you. And an even bigger thanks to Kireishi-chan, Who gave me not only an absolutely wonderful character to work with, but also sent e-mail after e- mail to break the monotony of country life. **_THANK YOU KIRIESHI!!!!!!!!!!!!  
_**  
=============One Year After the Events in Kagome No Kitsune...=============  
  
.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O Makai; Shadow Kitsune Kingdom O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.  
  
Kitsune servants winced and murmured sympathetically as they passed through the courtyard and saw an enchanting young vixen sparring with an equally enchanting (And far older, though no one would dare say this for fear of facing her rage) who apparently hadn't been thinking when she challenged the vixen to a duel.  
  
The fox was taking full advantage of using the inu as an outlet for her frustration, alarming the poor demoness to no end as she struggled to keep her head where it belonged. Especially the uncharacteristic fury in the girl's eyes...  
  
The inu screamed as the kitsune disarmed her, putting her blade at the inu's throat in the kill position.  
  
"Okay, okay, I give!!!" The vixen blinked.  
  
"Huh?" the inu shook her head with a mock sigh.  
  
"You just won. Are you okay, Kaggy?" This came out in two parts, the first amused teasing and the second genuine concern.  
  
"Fine," Kagome said, a slight blush staining her cheeks. "I'm fine, Rin."  
  
"Liar," Both Princesses turned to the neko leaning lazily against the arched entrance, arms crossed over her finely crafted armor.  
  
"Sango..." Kagome said in warning.  
  
"What's wrong?" Rin asked, looking between the two. Kagome sighed.  
  
"My 18th birthday is coming up soon."  
  
"...So?"  
  
"It's a ritual in the kitsune royal family, that if the first born is female, she must prove her strength before she is given the privilege of choosing a mate. Traditions dictate the princess and a small band of trusted allies must fight in the Tri-realm Tournament and receive a blessing from the gods before gaining her rights," Rin blinked.  
  
"So. Queen Yame's cool, tradition or no, she's not gonna force you to marry someone she picks. She's not you dad, Kagome."  
  
"But that's just it. If Kagome is ever beaten at any time during the tournament, she is obligated to mate them if they're a male, or any one of their choosing if they are female or already mated." Sango explained. Rin fell over.  
  
"Who came up with such a stupid idea?!?!?!"  
  
"My ancestors," Kagome replied grimly. Rin clapped her hands over her mouth.  
  
"You're going to win, Kagome," Sango said, ignoring the inu demoness. "No matter what you think, you're strong enough to kill every demon there and then some. You have nothing to worry about." Sango could feel how stressed the situation was making her friend through their ever growing bond.  
  
"That's what Mama says. And I'll have you, Ganko, InuYasha and Miroku, so we should win no problem." With that, she gave both of them a cheerful smile and headed towards the castle, her katana over her shoulder. Sango sighed as she watched her leave.  
  
"She won't say it out loud," Rin gave the worried neko a confused look.  
  
"Say what?"  
  
"The real reason she doesn't want to go through with this,"  
  
"...umm, I kinda figured it had to do with the whole marrying-someone- you-don't-even-know-that-can-beat-the-shit-out-of-you thing," Sango rapped her knuckles on the inu demoness' head.  
  
"Well, yeah, there's a reason for that you brainless baka!" Sango turned and gave a sad smile in the direction of the castle. "She already knows who she wants as a mate, and she's scared of the possibility she might lose. The girl does have a lot of self esteem issues, so she's worried that she won't be with the one she loves because she was weak." Rin's confusion increased.  
  
"What are you- _oooh_..." Rin got a sly grin on her face. "So that's what's bothering her!!! Did she tell him yet?"  
  
"Of course. He understood. Well, half of him did, at least." Sango shook her head and bit back a smile at the thought of Youko's whiney protests and the mental pouts he sent along with them. Sango was torn away from these amusing thoughts, however, by a very insistent mental 'twirk' from Kagome to get her attention. "I've got to go, Rin,"  
  
She followed the link to outside the throne room, where Kagome had taken to pacing.  
  
"There you are!!! Mama's called the both of us here. She says it's important." Sango nodded and both demonesses entered the repaired and redecorated throne room. Queen Yame of the Makai Shadow Kitsunes looked up from watching Shippo, Souta and Kohaku, who seemed to be absorbed in a mind- boggling game of Go Fish at nearby table.  
  
"Kagome, Sango," She said with a weak smile, rising to greet her only daughter and her daughter's most trusted guardian.  
  
"You needed to see us, Mama?" Kagome asked, looking at her mother closely. Apparently, something had been bothering her recently as well. She looked so tired, and worried. Kagome hadn't seen her like this since her father started harassing them again.  
  
From the table, Shippo watched the three women curiously as Kagome studied her mother, and Souta took the opportunity to peek at his hand.  
  
"Yes, I've learned some startling news about the tournament and the Spirit Detectives," The Queen said, drawing the complete attention of both younger girls and all the boys, stopping the vigorous argument about the definition of 'cheating.'  
  
"What about them?" Sango asked, her tone warring between curious and worried, drawing a few smirks from the boys who went basically unnoticed.  
  
"It's about the Star of Fallen Faith..."  
  
.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o Reikai; Koenma's office o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.  
  
"The Star of Fallen Faith?" Yusuke snorted, "Nice name. This from the same people that named the Shikon no Tama?"  
  
"Be quiet, Yusuke!!!" Koenma snapped, slightly bewildered that he knew of the mysterious sacred jewel. (AN; ; They kinda 'forgot' to tell him what happened,)  
  
"The Star of Fallen Faith was created by the most powerful dark miko to ever live," Kurama calmly explained. "It works much like the Shikon by giving youkai strength, but it cannot grant wishes and when a youkai uses the Star, his heart will eventually be swallowed by it, allowing a Dark miko to control him," Yusuke flinched.  
  
"Yikes,"  
  
"That we probably won't have to worry about," Koenma reassured them. "Miko ki is very difficult to locate unless you have a properly trained miko or houshi, neither of which has been seen for nearly three hundred years. Unfortunately, the Star will simply keep increasing the youkai's strength, until their own powers rival those of the gods. And it's true that dark mikos can control a youkai through the Star, but only if their own ki is greater than or equal to the youki of the youkai using the Star when she exerts her control. The Star will then stop feeding the youkai energy."  
  
"Uhh... Right, got it," Kuwabara said, obviously confused. Yusuke ignored him, debating on whether or not to ask if a regular miko or a miko youkai could control this Star thingy.  
  
=No,=  
  
'Hiei?'  
  
=Only Dark Mikos can control the star of Fallen Faith. And bringing up the powers of your girlfriend and the shadow princess will only complicate their lives even more. Do you want Keiko to become a toy for the Reikai?= Yusuke visibly flinched, knowing the truth in the words. The spirit detective shot the jiganshi a grateful look.  
  
Their friendship had improved over the year since the whole Sengoku Jidai thing. Actually Hiei's relationship with all the spirit detectives in whole had improved. (though it was on a muuuuch smaller scale with Kuwabara than any of the others.)  
  
"So what's the deal with this star thing, anyways? Yusuke asked the toddler. "We gonna have to kick some ass to get it back for you or something like that?"  
  
"_WHO SAYS I LOST IT IN THE FIRST PLACE_?!?!?!" Koenma shouted indignantly. "The Star of Fallen Faith disappeared over five hundred years ago, before the barriers went up, when a miko by the name of Kikyou killed the demon that carried it and the dark miko that controlled him." The spirit detectives stiffened, except for Kuwabara.  
  
"Kikyou? Wasn't that the name of- _mph_!!!!!!" The ground, which he met with via Yusuke's fist, rudely cut off the oversized human much to Kurama's relief.  
  
::I knew there was a reason we stayed around him.:: Youko commented from the safety of Kurama's mind.  
  
((You're in a better mood now.))  
  
::I've decided that since our mate-to-be has enough power to defeat any who enter that ridiculous tournament seeking her, complaining is a pointless waste of energy,:: Youko said arrogantly. Kurama resisted the urge to shake his head.  
  
"Anyways, the Star has recently reappeared, in the reincarnation of the youkai who died with the artifact in his body." Koenma continued, missing the exchange between Yusuke and Kuwabara.  
  
"Wait a minute, you let this demon get reincarnated?!?!" Yusuke demanded. Koenma turned a bright, flaming red.  
  
"It's not my fault!!! There was an office party and I- Well- **_THAT'S NOT THE POINT_**!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Who is this demon," Kurama asked, cutting off what looked like the start of yet another pointless argument. "And what is he after?" Koenma sighed.  
  
"We don't know who or what he is. He died before my father made the barrier, so we have little, if any, information on him. But we have uncovered what he's after," Koenma's giant TV flickered to life, showing a giant stadium. "This is the stadium where the Tri-realm Tournament is held. Here, teams of five fighters compete for blessings from the higher gods and the promise of their hearts desire. However, every once in a while, the tournament plays host to another prize," Kurama stiffened.  
  
((He can't mean...))  
  
::Considering he would've just referred to her as a mere 'prize' he better not!!!:: Youko growled passionately.  
  
Unfortunately for both, Koenma's TV flickered again, this time showing a portrait of Kagome in a fine silk kimono, a crown of silvery flowers against her dark hair and a gentle smile on her lips, her eyes dancing with her innocent, playful spirit.  
  
Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara all looked at the picture before turning to Kurama, alarm and confusion written all over their faces.  
  
"This is Kagome, the Princess of the Shadow Kitsune Kingdom of the Makai," Koenma stated, still oblivious to their reactions. "She is turning 18 two days from now, and it is tradition in the royal families of the Shadow Kitsune when the first born is female that they compete in the tri- realm tournament, and mate any male that can defeat them," Koenma explained. Yusuke and Kuwabara's eyes grew larger, as Hiei's narrowed "We have determined from an anonymous source that the youkai with the stat wishes to be that male," Youko let out a low growl only Hiei and Kurama could hear.  
  
::I told you we should have forbidden her from going!!!::  
  
"**_WHAT_**?!?!?!?!?!?!" Yusuke and Kuwabara screamed in union, alarm all over their faces.  
  
"Why Kagome?" Yusuke questioned, tense.  
  
"Why not? Practically all the males in the Makai and several in the Reikai and Ningenkai are entering the tournament for the mere chance of a shot at becoming her mate. Shadow Kitsunes are a very powerful and prosperous race, and Princess Kagome is quite powerful herself. Not to mention very beautiful..." Kurama growled softly, which went unnoticed by all but Hiei, who sent him a pointed look.  
  
"So what do we do?" Kuwabara asked.  
  
"You four and one other will be going to the tournament to retrieve the Star." Kurama stiffened.  
  
"And if we face the princess' team?" he asked. Youko stayed unusually still in his mind, waiting for the answer with as much tension as Kurama.  
  
"...Well, like I said, she's very beautiful, and I hear she's smart and kind as well..." he trailed off at the rapidly darkening faces. "Would you rather have her with this youkai?!?! He could torment her, hurt her in the worst ways possible, and her responsibilities as his mate would mean she'd do nothing!!! I've seen it happen to her family before, they're too proud to break vows!!!" Kurama sighed. That was true...  
  
With a few parting glares and some muttered curses, the four detectives left in defeat, knowing that there wasn't anything they could say or do that wouldn't cause more trouble for their royal friend and her companions.  
  
When Kurama got home, he wasn't surprised to see Kagome at the dinner table, chatting cheerfully with his human mother.  
  
They'd met about a month after Queen Yame had regained rein, when things had settled down in the Makai enough for Kagome to visit. Shiori adored Kagome right off the bat, and now that Kurama's high school graduation was in sight and he'd already had early acceptance into Tokyo University (Kagome and Sango were to attend as well. Kagome's mother insisted on her and Souta completing their human education, and the girl had pulled her grades up splendidly with a little help from Kurama and a few royal tutors. She'd insisted on Sango attending school with her and, thanks to a few fake records and a soccer scholarship, She was going as well, no matter how reluctantly. Kohaku and Shippo also went to human schools now, to keep Souta company and expand their own education while staying out of the trouble it had become so easy for them to get into, no doubt.) she kept dropping hints about how he should think of finding the 'right woman' and starting a family and somehow found ways to lead the conversation into talking about all of Kagome's better qualities.  
  
"Suuichi," His mother said, smiling widely as he entered the dining room, "There you are. I was just leaving for the store. Kagome's here to see you!" and, before another word was said, she left, the young adults blinking in the wake.  
  
::Didn't she do all the shopping yesterday?::  
  
"She just said she had nothing to do and could use my company," Kagome said as she stood, straightening her blood red knee length skirt and the black sleeveless top that accompanied it. Kurama chuckled and shook his head.  
  
"You know," he stated simply, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"You doubted the shadow kitsune's ability to quench their thirst for knowledge?" Kagome asked innocently. Kurama chuckled again as he stood and walked over to her.  
  
"You've been spending too much time with Miroku."  
  
::Agreed. Especially when she should be spending that time with us,:: Kagome shook her head at Youko's possessive tone.  
  
"Don't need to tell me twice. Though I am worried about Souta, Shippo and Kohaku, considering the time he'd spending with them as well. But I decided to back off a little after Sango threatened to remove certain body parts if he turned her little brother into a pervert." Kurama raised an eyebrow at her, though he and Youko were both clearly amused at the censored threat. "He's bored now that Yari hardly ever leaves their room anymore. She's pregnant now, and their worried about losing their first child," Kurama's eyes flashed with surprise for a moment before he smiled again.  
  
"Send them our best wishes."  
  
::It was only a matter of time, considering what a hardcore pervert he is.::  
  
((This coming from one of the biggest perverts from the Makai.))  
  
::I am _NOT_ perverted! I'm just more knowledgeable than most, that's all.:: Kagome, oblivious to the silent argument between the two halves of Kurama, smiled at them before letting it fade into a more serious look, brushing back a strand of hair and tucking it behind her ear.  
  
"We're getting off track. Kurama-!"  
  
"I know." They couldn't allow each other any leniency in battle. As much as they cared for each other, one would be viewed as weak for letting the other win. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to fight each other, but if it did come to that, they'd have to fight each other as they would any other opponent. To win.  
  
"Kurama? I want you to know, if we do have to face each other, no matter who wins, I would be honored to be your mate." Kurama smiled, pulling her close and kissing her on the forehead.  
  
"It would be more of an honor to have to as a mate." Kagome smiled, resting her head against his shoulder for a moment.  
  
"I have to go," She eventually said, regretfully pulling herself from Kurama's embrace and starting for the door. She paused for a second before doubling back and kissing him full on the lips. "Be sure to bring everyone with you to the tournament, okay? I'd love to see them again." And with that, she left, along with one of the shadowy figures outside. Kurama smiled as the door closed.  
  
"Spying is very rude, Hiei," said fire apparition came to rest on the windowsill, scowling slightly.  
  
"She's distressed." Kurama gave him a curious look. "I didn't look in her mind. The neko told me while you two were talking." With that cleared up, Kurama went over to the window and watched as Kagome and Sango walked down the street, deep in discussion about something or another.  
  
"She has no reason to be. We'll do anything to keep her with us, where she belongs. Once she sees that, she'll know she has nothing to fear."  
  
.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0OMakai; A Dark Island Near the Tri-realm StadiumO0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.  
  
The demon laughed as the 50 or so youkai facing him fell, dead with one light swipe of his claws. Power... so much power!!! And there was more to be had. He could feel himself growing stronger with each passing day. He was almost giddy with adrenaline from the fights he had to test those powers, to find his new limits every time he got stronger.  
  
He knew he was fast approaching the stronger fighters in power, if he hadn't already caught up with them, that is. And he knew the perfect way to test this power, and to win himself a few invaluable prizes as well.  
  
A week. He chuckled darkly as he turned to the other four sitting lazily on the hill, watching his extermination of the local youkai. A week would be more than enough. Soon he, the strongest of youkai, would get what he so rightfully deserved.  
  
The throne of the shadow kitsune, and the beautiful princess that was his ticket there...  
  
.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o. Makai; Deep in the Forests .o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.  
  
(AN; I had a little bit of this next part in my preview in KNK, but I left all that I wrote down at home when I left, so I most of this is from memory while others are just parts I added in.)  
  
_'Thunk!'  
_  
The small, ugly pink bat youkai paled slightly as his master threw knives at the five separate pictures pinned to the wall, sweat drops dotting his head and nerves making his tiny body tremble.  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
_'Thunk!'_  
  
"Yes, Milord! Queen Yame-!" The bat was cut off by his master's harsh growl, "I-I mean the wench, sir! Ah, yes, anyways, she's decided that although she does not approve of it, she will not beak with such a long standing tradition. And she is at least vaguely aware of your presence, but cannot find your location."  
  
"I see... anything else?"  
  
_ 'Thunk!'  
  
_ "Yes, sire, the neko, hanyou, Gen- err... Ganko, and the monk are all going to accompany her as her teammates. Also, most of her other constant companions and both the Ladies of the Western Lands of the Makai will be there to offer support from the audience."  
  
_'Thunk!'  
_  
"And the rumors of the Princess and that spirit detective? Are they true?"  
  
"Ah, well, as far as I can tell... yes."  
  
_ 'THUNK!'  
  
_ "Gather the boys. I want them here in an hour or it'll be your head."  
  
"Y-yes sire!!!" The terrified youkai took off like a bat out of hell. (AN; No pun intended. ;;;)  
  
"The kitsune stood, surveying the pictures on the wall. They showed all four detectives and Queen Yame, the five people responsible for the death of King Kurai. If they hadn't interfered, he could have been Princess Kagome's mate right now.  
  
Silently, he took a small picture of Kagome holding Shippo in the royal gardens out of his cloak pocket. She was smiling down at the kit as he munched happily on a lollipop, her hair pulled back into a loose braid and a simple pair of gray hakamas and a white haori donning her figure. She was tucking a white flower, no doubt picked by the child in her lap, into her raven colored hair.  
  
"Soon," he promised the picture, twisting a knife between his fingers before letting it fly, hitting the red haired kitsune in the forehead. He smirked, thinking of the pleasure of pulling the same stunt on the picture's living counterpart. "Very soon,"  
  
.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0OMakai; MarketplaceO0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.  
  
A vixen smiled at her young patient as she finished tying the bandage, nodding to signify they were done and he was free to play again.  
  
"Thank you, Miss Healer!!!" The ookami child said with an enthusiastic smile before picking up the ball he'd been playing with and running off, mindful of his new injury. The woman's smile widened as she stood, brushing stray dirt off her dark violet fighting kimono (Same style as Youko's, only more feminine.) and adjusting her double bladed staff before trotting down the street, her strange blue eyes flickering between various people, stalls and merchandise as she walked.  
  
Unfortunately, she lost her footing on the stone path, landing rather ungracefully in a newspaper vendor's stall.  
  
Blue eyes turned orange as color rose to her face.  
  
"Stupid wench!!!" The vendor yelled, calling on every obscenity that he knew.  
  
"Sorry!!!" The vixen started to pick up the papers when a sentence in one caught her eyes...  
  
Hastily, she grabbed a copy, shoving a large, full purse into the vendor's hand, not really caring that she'd just given him enough to pay for the stall and all the papers he might get there for the next week. It didn't matter, she still had plenty more where those came from.  
  
She read the article, eyes turning green as she did.  
  
'It is believed that among the contestants of this year's Tri-realm Tournament will be the spirit detectives, one of which, the legendary Youko Kurama, is said to be close with-'  
  
"Yay!!!" the vixen cheered, excitedly, "he's alive!!!" tucking the newspaper under her arm for future reference, she raced off to find the nearest route to the Tri-realm Tournament.  
  
Sadly, she did not see the youkai carrying several large boxes, who's only mistake was standing in the path of the excited demoness.  
  
She knocked into him, causing him to stumble. The boxes falling out of his grasp and into a nearby stall, making it collapse into its' neighbor, starting a dominos effect. When the dust settled, all eyes turned in fury to the vixen, who was blushing from silver haired head to toe, her eyes as orange as pumpkins.  
  
"Oops,"  
  
===============================================================  
  
DV- There you go!!! I'm sooooo sorry!!! I meant to get this up yesterday, but something came up and I was delayed. I probably won't be able to get my other story updated now, either. Sorry all!!!  
  
Chiisai- It's was a lot longer on word than it was on lined paper.  
  
DV- I know. That's kinda weird.  
  
Kagome- Oh, well, at least you got this up a week earlier than you intended.  
  
Inu- You make that sound like a good thing.  
  
Kagome- Come on, InuYasha, this story isn't that bad.  
  
DV- There's a confidence booster.  
  
Kagome- Well, what I mean is, it's not bad at all!!!  
  
InuYasha- Yes it is.  
  
DV- The scaly yellow ants don't thing so!!!  
  
Everyone- ...  
  
Botan- Err... Review, please!!!  
  
Yusuke- and _**GET US OUT OF HERE**_!!!!!  
  
DV- _OH_!!!!! And one last thing!!! It's about the POV's. I got a few complaints about the way I did them last time, so I'm going to let you vote on how it's done this time/  
  
Normal POVs.- Just like this prologue.  
  
Altering 1st person POVs- Like I had it in Kagome no Kitsune. Also, if you do want this, your going to have to specify who you want to have a POV. I'm keeping Kagome and Kurama if I do it this way considering they're the main couple, but the other two you suggest if you vote this.  
  
One 1st person POV through out the entire story.- Most likely Kagome's, but if you vote this and want someone else, specify who.  
  
Don't give a damn- If I have to explain this, I'm not the only one in desperate need of mental help. 


	2. Meetings new and old

GOMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fanfiction Reviews;

SlplessWitch951 (Thank you!!!)

Lennex (Thanks!!! I had A LOT of time to think about it... Sorry to say that you were outvoted.)

starangel (Hey, I've got animalistic in my bio, so I'm pretty sure if I can make that a word, circly's a safe bet. And that you for the excellent review!!!)

Luscious (Thanks!!! Hehe... you'll see!!! She's in this chappie too, and you actually learn her name.)

silverkitsunekagome (Will do!!!!!)

inu-angel247 (Thank you!!! I know I'm not the most clear writer, so it's okay!)

empress-of-the-shadows (Thanks! sorry it took so long to update. THe hell that is my life...)]

KagomeYasha4448 (Hehe... aww, your making me blush!!! Don't worry. I will. My friend gave me a huge lecture about that after she read one of my stories.)

kireishi-chan (KIREISHI!!!! Chiisai- S'up!!! DV- Here it is!!! And thanks!!! JAT isn't too popular, but with Duo's personality, its WAY fun to write!!! And I strongly suggest you check GW out. It's a legend as far as animes go.)

FoxylilRaven (Thanks for the vote, but it was only suppose to be two PEOPLE, not too couples. But since you were one of only two people to mention ANY other POV, and I didn't make the vote clear enough I'll count all of them. Next chapter regular rules apply, though. Hehe... you'll see!!! Yeah, I re read all my stories (and every other one I could find) a billion times. and noticed how much my writing style has improved. If I get the time, I'd like to redo KNK)

inuyasha92689 (Thanks!)

Sanaka (I normally DO do things my way, but I figured since KNK had so many loyal fans, I'd let them decide what to do. lol Considering the e-mail's I've exchanged with Kireishi, I can really see that. Not at all!!! I'm a bit of a manner's freak myself. Mom beat it into my head at a young age.)

icekaia (Thanks and you're welcome!!!)

star's dreams (Yeh my computer doesn't have internet either, so I have to use my dad's to update. The floppy has become one of the most important tools in my life. Hmm... interesting idea. I'd love to do that, but the POV's have already been voted on, sorry!)

sacaku (Thank you! It's so nice to have a little praise now and then!!!)

kagomewannabe-2008 (thank you! I have so many interesting Ideas for this story (Wait till college comes in play!))

InuyashaJunky (Here's the update!!!)

Crying Crystal Teardrops (I still check if KNK is getting reviews if I see there's a new one or something. Why not? Mom and dad said I can't have the new siblings considering it's already me and three boys. I read your bio (thanks for the recommendation, by the way!!! that was so sweet!!!) and put as much as I could in here, but I might need to know a little more about your character. Personality, past, that sort of stuff. Thank you so much!)

Fallen-666-Angel (Actually, I'm the one who tries to tell him ain't isn't a word. Dad's southern born and raised. We even had an arguement about the pronounciation of 'foreigner' (He pronounces it 'ferrener') and thanks for the vote!!! Don't worry, Ganko plays a major roll in this story!!!)

Mediaminer Reviews;

Rei Akuma Minamino (Sorry, but the alternating POVs won out. I might write a normal POV one if I get the time, but everything considered...)

lilangelmiko (It's okay!!! speaking of e-mail, I'm STILL trying to make my Dad get his lazy butt up and make me my own address. Yep, all my stories except for KNK are on mediaminer!!! Also, check out the mediaminer counterpart to KNK, The Thin Line, other than several threats over a cliffie, all I've been hearing is good things!!!)

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DV- COMPUTERS ARE EVIL!!!!!!!!! I had JUST finished this story AND saved when my computer deleted it!!!!! when it came back on, it had TRIED to recover it, but the first half was missing!!! So I hafta go back and retype all of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I leave for the cabin in a few hours!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chiisai- DV means to say, she's sorry this is taking so long.  
  
QFF- And my mom just had a baby, so my life recently?  
  
DV- 1st person alternating POVs won, but your gonna hafta choose the last two POVs I've already got Kagome and Kurama, but I need the last two. I'll give you a list at the end of the chapter. I can't write this Thursday because I'm going to Cedar Point with a friend.  
  
QFF- Which is completely irresponsible of her.  
  
DV- You're just mad that you can't come.  
  
QFF- Damn straight.  
  
Kagome- DV doesn't own anyone but her original characters, and hopes the you remember it.  
  
---------------------------------------Meetings; Old and New---------------- ------------------------  
  
.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0 Kagome0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.  
  
"Are we there yet?"  
  
"For the millionth time- NO!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Wow. That's surprising! You know a number past 10!!!"  
  
"Why you little-!"  
  
"MAMAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"InuYasha! Let Shippo go right now!!! Shippo, don't tease InuYasha." I rubbed my temples as InuYasha 'feh!'ed and literally dropped my son, careful to do so in a manner that would insure that he's land on his head. Shippo retaliated be biting InuYasha's foot. "Stop that both of you!!! You two promised to behave yourselves."  
  
"I am behaving myself, Mama," Shippo said, tilting his head cutely after jumping into the safety of my lap. "I was really surprised InuYasha could count that high." I glared at the dog hanyou as he made another go for Shippo, while the rest of the carriage cracked up.  
  
"feh!" InuYasha said, slumping into a seat. I ignored him, instead looking into my kit's big green eyes.  
  
"We'll be there soon, sweetie. Just be patient for me for just a little longer and don't cause any trouble, okay?" Shippo's chest puffed out.  
  
"Okay! I'll be good for you, Mama!!!!! He said, climbing up onto his favorite perch on my shoulder. I smiled at him affectionately.  
  
No matter how many people could (And did) complain about my son's hyperactivity and often dangerous pranks (Most directed at InuYasha, and several involving tricks with plants that put certain... aspects in danger that had him cursing my boyfriend...) everyone admired my son's loyalty and obedience towards me.  
  
"I heard the number of people signing up for this years tournament was a record breaker," Rin said as she braided Sango's ponytail. My neko guardian just ignored her, in favor if of re-rechecking her katana. It hadn't taken us long to find out that grown up Rin had an obsession with hair to rival Yura's. One that had her playing with any hair past eight inches in length she could get her hands on. This encouraged InuYasha, and even Sessho-maru, to avoid sitting next to her for long periods of time. Though it was pretty much unavoidable in the western lord's case.  
  
You won't believe how amusing it is to see the mighty Sessho-maru exit a carriage with braids, pig tails and bows. It's made even funnier since all who see him practically tear up from trying to keep their laugher at bay. Except for InuYasha, who has no qualms whatsoever about laughing at his Half brother.  
  
"Yeah, wonder why..." Ganko said, smirking at me.  
  
"Another word and you'll be cleaning up Dragon and kitty doo-doo for the rest of the trip. I can make it happen, Ganko." Mama's leading general made a face, and the rest of my friends snickered.  
  
"Somebody's moody. Don't tell me it's that time of month cause if it is, I'm not letting you anywhere near a fight out of sympathy for the poor soul at the receiving end." I chucked a rock at him, which he dodged easy.  
  
"NO YOU UNDERSIZED BABOON REJECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm just a little stressed is all."  
  
"Why? This tournament's no biggie, Kagome,"  
  
"Yeah. I thought we went through this a few days ago Kaggy." I blinked at them, then felt like a total baka for not noticing before that they had failed to mention anything about the spirit detectives. As soon as that sunk in, I turned to glare at Sango.  
  
"YOU DIDN'T TELL THEM?!?!?!  
  
"I had to take care of some security breaks and thought you or one of the boys would handle it!!!!!!!"  
  
"I couldn't!!! I was being dragged left and right because of this stupid tournament!!!!!!" I protested  
  
"Miroku was heaving lessons on me like there was no tomorrow," Souta said ignoring his sensei's protests of overworking him.  
  
"And I had to stick around with Souta and make sure he didn't try to sneak off when Miroku wasn't looking." Kohaku said, smiling brightly at the glare this earned from my brother.  
  
"And I had my own tutors to worry about," Shippo said innocently. "One still has a broken leg from her mysterious fall down the main stairs and the others still have those weird illnesses that give them purple pimples and hallucinations."  
  
"Wonder how that happened," InuYasha said, giving my smiling son a pointed look.  
  
"I have no idea," Shippo said, looking perplexed. "Maybe it was just a bug in the air or something..."  
  
"Or something," Yari muttered, smirking.  
  
"So what's the big deal anyways?" Ganko said, trying to get his boot back from Kirara, who was in a very playful mood at the moment. I sighed.  
  
(AN; This is really random and has nothing to do with my story but I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on HBO over the weekend and now I can't get the oompa-loompa song out of my head!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  
  
"The spirit detectives will be there," I said. Everyone looked mildly surprised at the most.  
  
"Really?" Yari asked, "I mean, I figured Kurama and possibly Hiei would come, but that Yusuke doesn't seem like the type to sit around and watch other people fight."  
  
"No, you don't understand. The spirit detectives will be IN the tournament. As in participating."  
  
...  
  
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'IN THE TOURNAMENT?!?!?!?!'"  
  
"WHY IN THE SEVEN HELLS WOULD THEY DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"  
  
"Koenma's orders," Shippo said mildly, "Something about a star and complete domination of the Makai ."  
  
"The point is," I said hastily, not wanting them to know the details of the spirit detective's most recent case, "they have to fight in the tournament and we have to accept that and the fact that we may eventually have to face them in battle."  
  
"Feh. Who cares?" InuYasha asked harshly, "I could beat all four of them single handed."  
  
"You know, InuYasha," Yari said, picking Hogosha up and stroking him, "one of these days someone's gonna take one of your self-satisfied boasts and shove it up your-!"  
  
"WE'RE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Shippo cried, jumping into my lap to start dancing around. "We'retherewe'retherewe'retherewe'retherewe'retheeeeere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
As Shippo celebrated, our dragon drawn carriage swept towards the ground elegantly, and landed without so much as a 'bump.'  
  
I sighed as everyone got up to leave, following the overactive Shippo who more or less flew out of the carriage the second the door opened. Brushing imaginary dust off the layered kimono I was required to wear for today, I exited the carriage, accepting help from the footman with a small smile and taking my place between Sango and Ganko in front of everyone else who had come with me. Ganko and InuYasha had both received lectures about how they were expected to behave in public on this trip, including vivid descriptions of what would happen if they didn't behave that way, so both were on their best behavior right now.  
  
I ignored the murmur of the crowd as I led my companions to the front gate, where the tournament judges stood waiting.  
  
"Princess," The head judge said, bowing low, "It is a great honor to have you here."  
  
"Thank you. I'm very excited to be here, sir," I said smiling. My smile widened when InuYasha's snort was cut off by Yari's elbow.  
  
"If you'll follow me, I will bring you to where your opponents wait. The rules of our tournament will be explained tomorrow before your match." The head judge said, turning slightly to motion down the hall of the stadium  
  
"Of course, sir," I said, keeping my eyes ahead of me. Mama gave me very strict instructions to how I was required to act here. Normally, I'd be able to do whatever I want, but until the meeting with the other teams was over (All it required from me was a quick speech.) and during my fights, I had to play the role of Princess Kagome of the Shadow Kitsunes.  
  
At least I had a nice, relaxing collage life disguised as a human to look forward to, ne?  
  
The head judge led us to a pair of double doors, which he nodded to the doormen to open. I mentally sighed as the doors creaked open and the rumble of talk behind them ceased.  
  
** What's up?  
  
How is it that I can't even sulk in my own head without everyone knowing it?  
  
Don't avoid the subject!** I rolled my eyes, but couldn't suppress my smile. Sango knew me, inside and out, better than I knew myself, and vice versa. She was the one person I couldn't fool if my life depended on it. I really don't know where I'd be without her help.  
  
** Mama warned me about some of the things that would happen in the tournament and How I should react.  
  
So?  
**  
"Presenting her Royal Majesty, Princess Kagome Rabenda Tsuyu Hana Otome of the Makai Shadow Kitsune Kingdom. A top-level fighter, fully trained miko youkai and the guardian of the Shikon no Tama."  
  
** Oh.  
  
Did he HAVE to bring up that Damn jewel?!?!  
  
Knowing your current run of lucky, yes,** I flashed her a grin before stepping into the view of the demons, humans and everything in between. All bowed except for one group in the corner.  
  
Yusuke, Keiko, Botan, Yukina, Hiei, Kuwabara, Kurama, Gramma Genkai (Though it looked like she had come as just a spectator.) Prince Koenma, a blue ogre in a loincloth, and two women I'd never met before. One was a human with long brown hair and brown eyes and the other was a female Shadow Kitsune with long hair, a dark brown at the roots, then fading into a lighter brown as It got longer, topped with black fox ears that tipped in brown. She wore a skin-tight black fighting suit and a katana was at her left hip. Her tail wrapped around her waist (A lot of kitsune fighters did this to keep opponents from grabbing it,)

She, the ogre and Prince Koenma all looked confused at the behavior of their other companions, but refrained from saying anything to avoid making a scene.  
  
I smiled at them, then turn my attention to the rest of the crowd as they straightened.  
  
"Thank you," I said, with a small smile. "I didn't think I'd be accepted so respectfully."  
  
** Yes you did,  
**  
"I'd like to welcome you to the Tri-realm Tournament on behalf of me and my team. It is an honor to be competing in this tournament as my ancestors have done many times before me. We are eager to meet strong opponents inside and outside of the ring."  
  
** Some more than others,  
**  
"With that said, I believe it is time to prepare for morning. I hope to see you during our match tomorrow"  
  
** No you don't.  
  
I'm gonna kill you, Sango,** I said through our bond.  
  
I know, Sango said, cheerfully. I shook my head and started towards our hotel.  
  
"Wow!!!!"  
  
"Don't touch that!!!!!"  
  
"Look at this!!!!"  
  
"Hey, put that down!!!!!!!"  
  
"Cool!!!!"  
  
"Damn it, get away from there!!!!!!!!!!!" The gang and I found out a little too late that three overly active children and one expensive hotel room never meant anything good.  
  
'Crash!' I sighed.  
  
** It's not like you can't pay for it, you know,  
  
I know, but I don't want them thinking it's okay to break stuff just because we have money.  
  
And power. Can't forget about power  
  
Shut up.  
  
** "I'm going to see Kurama," Ah, the magic words.  
  
"I wanna come!!!" Shippo said, hopping onto my shoulder.  
  
"Me, too!!!" Souta said, grabbing one of my hands.  
  
"And me!!!" Kohaku said, "I wanna see Hiei again." Hmm... That's a nice shade of red Sango's giving off.  
  
** You're evil.  
  
I know.** I said, imitating her tone from before.  
  
"Come on, guys, I'm sure they wanna see us too." I said, heading towards the door, my own mini circus in tow.  
  
"KURAMAAAAAA!"  
  
"Oomph!!!" I bit back a laugh as my boyfriend was pelted by my five inch tall kit.  
  
"There's something you don't see every day," The human girl I'd never met before said blinking as my son chatter on and on about all sort of things.  
  
"Kagome!!!" Keiko yelled, running over to hug me. I smiled and returned the hug.  
  
"Hey, Keiko! How've you been?"  
  
"Great! I really missed you guys, though."  
  
"Aww, nice to know we're loved!!!!!!!!!!" Yari said, happily, drawing all attention to her. All movement in the room stopped.  
  
"Yari, you've, ah," Botan blinked at Yari's stomach  
  
"You're..." Yukina seemed to be struggling for words, too.  
  
"You look... Different." At least Keiko seemed to know the subtle approach to inquiring about an enormous amount of weight gain.  
  
"Uhh..." Kuwabara, naturally.  
  
"Damn, you're huge!"  
  
'BAM!!!'  
  
"YUSUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Those who knew of Yari's pregnancy couldn't hold it in anymore. We cracked up and even Hiei smirked a bit at how flustered they were getting.  
  
"I'm as big as a house, okay?" Yari said, grinning. The group (Particuarly the females) blinked. "I haven't touched a katana in ages, and eat like a cow. Normal symptoms of 7 months of pregnancy."  
  
...  
  
"EEEKKK!!!!" the girls stormed Yusuke and Kuwabara over to surround Yari, eyes glittering dangerously with all their baby ideas.  
  
"YOU'RE PREGNANT?!?!?! KAWAII!!!"  
  
When's the baby due?!?!?!"  
  
"Do you have a name?!?!?!"  
  
"What's it gonna be?!?! Boy or girl?!?!?!"  
  
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?!?!?!?!" I shook my head in amusement.

"They'll be lost in baby-zone for the next few days." I said In amusement. The shadow kitsune laughed.

"None of the story's I've heard about you mentioned you're... ah..."

"sense of humor?"

"If that's what you want to call it," She said with a smile. I laughed.

"Well, you obviously know who I am, but I can't say I met you before..."

"Katrina. I'm a fighter for the Reikai, one of thier newest. I've been keeping up on what's been happening with you. Can't say I'm sorry to see your dad go."

"Don't worry, you're not alone," I said dryly. "What do you specailize in?"

"Katana mostly, a little hand to hand."

"Any magic?"

"No more than usual. Shadow shifting and some plant control. You know, the basic stuff,"

"Really? Can you show us something with the katana?!" Souta asked eagerly.

"Pleeeeeeease?" Shippo said, throwing in a puppy dog pout for good measures. Katrina laughed.

"Sure, why not?" I smiled as the boy's celebrated and gathered around Katrina, eager for the show. No one in the castle thought it would be a good idea for Shippo and Souta to learn katana. With the katana being such a dangerous weapon and them being, well, them.  
  
"Want to go for a walk?" I asked Kurama. I could use the fresh air.  
  
"Of course." He said, flashing that smile that made every women swoon and ignoring Youko as he started listing all the things we could do on that walk that didn't involve walking. "I just need to speak with Koenma about something first." I smiled back.  
  
"Alright. I'll wait outside the lobby."  
  
I plopped down on a bench, pushing my sunglasses up my nose and closing my eyes. Can't have my time with Kurama interrupted by a hopeful suitor now, could I? So I was wearing a baseball hat, a large pair of sunglasses, a sports jacket and blue jeans. My hair was tied back in a ponytail, and all my markings and such had been hidden. I hadn't looked so normal in ages. The girl's really went all out to keep me from drawing attention.  
  
"Princess Kagome?"  
  
But apparently It wasn't enough.  
  
I opened my eyes to see a shadow kitsune like myself in front of me, smiling in an openly friendly way. His short black hair spiked slightly, and his silver eyes glittered with the amusement of catching the Princess of the hour in blue jeans. He wore a sleeveless dark blue fighting gi and had a silver headband around his head, a black symbol of the shadow kitsune on the front.  
  
"Any chance I can convince you I just bear a stunning resemblance?" I asked meekly. He laughed, sitting next to me.  
  
"Relax. Your secret's safe with me. Know al about taking pains to keep the masses from seeing you." I rose an eyebrow at him. Now that I really looked at him, he DID look kinda familiar... "What? Don't tell me you don't remember me?"  
  
"Can't say that I do. Sorry." I said apologetically. He chuckled.  
  
"And here I thought we were friends when you conned the guards into letting me go without revealing I was royalty during the ceremony for your brother's birth..." my eyes widened as I remembered the young prince with the gape toothed grin who tried to sneak out in the middle of the boring ceremony into the city.  
  
"Kaigan?!?!?!" I asked incredulously. He'd grown...  
  
"Ah! So you DO remember me!!!" he said triumphantly. I laughed and gave him a little hug.  
  
"How could I forget Souta's nigenkai counterpart!!! It's been so long!!! How is your father?"  
  
"Still has his nose in a book more often than not, old coot." Kaigan, prince of the Shadow Kitsune Kingdom establisted in the Ningenkai said with an affection that took the insult out of his words, "Mother runs everything practically single handedly till I find a mate." I laughed. Queen Jinzai WAS a take-charge kind of person...  
  
"Anyone you have in mind?" I asked teasingly. Kaigan blushed to his roots.  
  
"Well, I was thinking... err I mean... Well I... heh..." I blinked, my smile fading in my confusion. Kaigan had a crush on me when we were kids, It was something Yari and Ganko used to tease me about, but that couldn't have lasted all these years...  
  
"So How come you're here, anyways? Normally, you and your family only come to the Makai for major social events, and I really don't think this applies."  
  
"My family thought it would be good for me to make our strength known to the Makai. Everyone thinks that since we still live among humans, we've become weak, and it hasn't made the populance very happy."  
  
"So you're competing?" Ganko's never gonna let me hear the end of this...  
  
"Yeah, pretty much. My fight isn't until the end of the first round, though,"

"You magesty!!!" a man called, heading towards us, his eyes on Kaigan. My old friend sighed, before smiling at me.

"Well duty calls," He said, turning to head to the man, "Catch ya later, Kagome!!!!" and with one last wave, he left.

So, Kaigan was here, was he? Wow, that brought back a lot of memories. I wondered about all the others I met as a child. Where were they now? What happened to them?

I watched the crowd at the ticket gate, picking absently at my pants as I thought of what the next day would bring...  
  
"Excuse me! Oh, pardon me. Ow! I'm sorry. Ooph!!!" I blinked as a pretty elemental kitsune with silver hair that had ebony streaks here and there tried to make her way to the ticket booth, only to have her way blocked by a group of large demons. She sighed, then turned and spotted a statue. Brightening slightly, she went over to the statue and started to climb. I blinked again, standing up. What in the world was she doing?  
  
After a lot of struggling, she reached the top of the statue, and scanned over everyone, looking for something. She must've found it, because her face broke into a grin and her eyes became a shade of bright green, and she started jumping up and down with such excitement, you'd think she'd just won the whole tournament herself. Unfortunately, gravity wasn't on the poor girl's side...  
  
"EEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
'Thunk!"  
  
"Owie," I walk over as she sat up.  
  
"Are you okay?" I asked, Holding out a hand to help her. Her eyes turned from purple to a vivid shade of orange and her cheeks stained red.  
  
"Um, fine. Truth be told, it happens all the time. Well, not me falling from statues or anything, but I do fall a lot. Not that I intend to, it just sort of happens..." I shook my head at the girl embarrassed babble.  
  
"I'm Kagome. Is there someone here you're looking for?" her blush faded, and her eyes turned green again.  
  
"Kireishi, and yes, actually there is. Do you know-!"  
  
"Kagome!" I turned to see Kurama heading our way. "I apologize for taking so long." I smiled at him.  
  
"It's okay." I was about to introduce Kurama to Kireishi, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her, his eyes flashing gold.  
  
::What the-!!!::  
  
"Kireishi?!?!" She blinked before her eyes turned purple.  
  
"Youko?!?!?!?!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------  
  
DV- Bad place to end?  
  
Everyone- 'dark glares.'  
  
DV- ehehehe...  
  
Chiisai- It'd serve you right if you were mauled to death by the reviewers.  
  
QFF- Hear, hear.  
  
DV- It's not THAT bad a cliffie!!!  
  
Kagome- It's still a cliffie!!!  
  
Botan and after all that waiting, too!!!  
  
DV- nn Well, that's it for now!!! Please leave a review!!!! Oh!!! And since I finished Kagome no Kitsune before I could put it on Mediaminer, I have a solely mediaminer x-over fic, too. It's called The Thin Line, same basic pairings, and It's under the same pen name. I think a lot of you would really like it, so go check it out!!!  
  
Kagome- Ja ne!!!!!  
  
POVS (Two votes per person per chapter, you can't vote for the same character twice in one chapter.)  
  
Sango-  
  
Hiei-  
  
Yusuke-I  
  
Keiko-I  
  
Botan-I  
  
InuYasha-I  
  
Miroku-  
  
Kuwabara- (Please, please no...)  
  
Yukina-  
  
Ganko-  
  
Yari-  
  
Yakuso-  
  
(I was kinda hesitant to put my OC's up there, but I figured what the heck. I'm not going to put anyone else's OC's up there though, considering I'm not sure if I have the right to use another person's character like that, since I'm only borrowing them from kind and generous reviewers.)


	3. Explanations and College Plans

REVIEWS!!!

inu-angel247 (thank you! I know. Someone outta shoot them.)

FoxylilRaven (You'll see!!! Truth be told, I'm not sure about Kireishi's age... she was borrowed. Sorry!)

icekaia ( Hehe... COOKIES!!!!)

kireishi-chan (Sorry!!! And thank's for the go ahead!!! Lol I'm talkinto you on AIM right now!!! unillegal? i think it just means legal in a wierd way... I haven't gotten mine, either...)

starangel4899 (Hmm... Well, I figured it'd be fun to let other people choose! Hmm... I did Hiei in KNK, so Ganko!)

YOUKO N KAGOME (You'll see!!!)

IniuyashaJunky (' Hehe... here you go!!!)

Fallen-666-Angel (Yep. Thanks for the vote! HEY! GET BACK HERE WITH THAT!!! 'Chases after Fallen to get Ganko back,')

star's dreams (Yeah, mine's been screwing up alot lately, too. Thanks!)

SlplessWitch (Sorry! Here's the update!!!)

Sanaka (Thank you!!! ... Miroku?)

Choas Babe (Keiko a youkai... hmm... O.O uhh... You don't know where I live, do you?)

blackestheart (you have no idea... I updated Blood Sisters today. Go check it out! SAVE THE KITTIES!!!)

Lusious (It's probably just screwing up again. They seem to love doing that to me. Try again, and see what happens)

KagomeYasha4488 (Ehehe... Don't pass judgement untill you hear the whole story!!!)

luscious (You'll see!!! Yeah, someone else made a comment about that, too... 'feels like an idiot when she sees it was you' ...nevermind.)

Crying Crystal Teardrops (thanks for the vote and the bio! I'll fit a little in this chappie, and the rest will come later. I still need to know about the personality, though. If you can, e-mail me at I'l get back to you when I can.)

Ying Yang Hime (Sorry! here's an update, does that make you less angry at me?)

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DV- Now, I know some of you thought that the way I ended last chapter was mean...

'growling heard from readers.'

QFF- moving on, at least she updated!!!

DV- I had to. Some of the threats... 'shutter.'

Chiisai- Hey, I liked them!!!

DV- You would...

Keiko- Erm... DV?

DV- Yeah?

Kagome- Your hair...

DV- What about it?

Yusuke- Well, for one, it's blue.

DV- ...so?

Everyone- 'sweatdrop.'

DV- Yes, I streaked my hair blue. I thought it would be fun, but Dad won't stop lecturing me for it.

Botan- Ah, right.

QFF- DreamVixen doesn't own anyone except her original characters. Kireishi belongs to Kireishi-chan and Katrina belongs to Crying Crystal Teardrops. Also, Kat (Who appears next chapter) belongs to starangel4899. They are generously lending these characters to DreamVixen for her story.

DV- Kaigan's mine, though.

-----------------------------------Explanations and College Plans----------------------------------

.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0 Kurama 0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.

::What in the world is Kireishi doing here?!?!?!:: Youko said in my mind, more than a little surprised. She wasn't exactly the type to go for these sort of things, after all.

"Youko?!?! Is that really you? What happened?! You're human! Did you get hurt or something? You did have to hide like this after stealing or anything, did you? Why are you working for the Reikai now? How come you didn't contact me? You're okay, aren't you?!"

::That's Kireishi, alright.:: Youko said in amusement. Kagome flashed us a questioning look.

"I'm fine, Kireishi. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you! I read you'd be here in the paper and- you got caught, did you? You got caught and the Reikai forced you to work for them in a human body as punishment!!!!"

"What? No!"

::Me?! Get caught?!?! What kind of amature does she take me for?!?!?!:: Youko asked, slightly pained at the unintentional wound to his immense pride.

"We'll explain later, Kireishi. But we're fine."

"...we?" I winced at the slip of tongue.

"Yes, Since I and our companions are close to Kurama, we'll be happy to explain anything that confuses you," Kagome said brightly.

**You owe me.**

::And we'll be happy to pay you in full with a nice, long night of-!::

((YOUKO!!!!))

::What?:: Kagome bit back a smile. Kireishi blinked at her in surprise for a second.

"You're friends with Youko?" She asked, mildly surprised. "That's a strange coincidence..."

"I've had stranger," Kagome said smiling wirily. "Come on, we should head back to the hotel so we can straighten everything out. Do you like tea?"

"Oh, yes!" Kireishi said with a bright smile.

"Well, Yakuso makes the best lemon tea ever tasted, and it's really good for you, too,"

"Really?"

"Yep. Ever since Yari became pregnant, that's all she drinks."

"Oh, you have a pregnant friend? I know a great ointment for stretch marks..."

::Why am I not surprised those two hit it off?:: Youko asked in amusement. I shook my head and followed. So much for a walk with Kagome...

"So, you've been hiding in the Ningenkai for the last 17 years?" Kireishi asked, putting her empty cup down.

"Yes," I said, studying her for any changes. I couldn't find any, and If the way she'd accidentally knocked the entire tray of tea off the table told me anything, she was still the kind-hearted and clumsy Kireishi who used to scold me for stealing.

"That explains how you met these guys," Kireishi said, motioning towards all the spirit detectives and their friends or family. "But what about you?" this question was directed at Kagome, who greeted it with a bright smile.

"Kurama and the others helped my family when my father tired to kidnap Souta and I from my mother, who hid us after he tried to kill us." Kireishi's eyes widened and flashed violet at what was considered the most serious of kitsune offences. "He's dead now, but He'd probably still be harassing us if it wasn't for the detectives." Kireishi frowned.

"Spirit Detectives don't usually get involved with that sort of stuff unless it's on a serious level..."

"They do for royalty," Ganko said from his place on the couch, without opening his eyes. "Right, Princess?" Kagome promptly smacked him across the head.

"Dragon and Kitty doo-doo, Ganko..." this earned snickers from the rest of the royal companions as Ganko flinched. Kireishis Eveys widened.

"Wait, you mean you're THE Kagome? PRINCESS Kagome?!?!" Kagome sighed, and Youko and I fought our amusement at the little blush that covered her cheeks.

"Well..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!!! I hadn't realized you were royalty!!! I must seem so rude to you!!!!!!!!!"

"Relax, Kireishi, your fine. I don't consider you rude at all. And I've been around enough unpleasant people to know rude..." Here, she spared Ganko and InuYasha pointed looks.

"I have a Question!" Shippo said, from his mother's shoulder. He deemed that the safest perch after Kireishi tried to strangle him to death in a hug. "How do you know Kurama?"

(AN; I know a lot of you want to kill me for stalling this long... oh, well!)

"How do I- Oh, I never told you, did I!!! Gomen!!!" She smiled brightly at the kit, "I'm Youko's half sister!!!"

...

"Youko's..."

"...Half sister?"

"Yes, is there anything wrong?" Kireishi asked as Yusuke started to 'cough.'

"No, it's just, you're so... well... different." Botan said, blinking.

::A bit of an understatement, but I give her points for the subtlity.:: Youko said cheerfully.

**Don't think you're not in trouble for not telling me this,** We mentally flinched at the promise in Kagome's voice.

"So, you came here looking for your brother." Yakuso said with a gentle smile.

"Yes. And if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to stay here during the tournament."

"Of course not!!!" Botan said, jumping on the chance to have another girl to chat with, "We'd love to have you here!!!"

"What are your plans for after the tournament?" Kagome asked, sitting down on the armrest next to where I was sitting.

"I'm not really sure..." Kireishi said, uncertainly, "I guess go back to being a traveling healer. What about you, Youko?"

"I have to go to the human college I was accepted in," I explained to my sister. "Kagome and Sango will be attending with me."

"Tokyo U?" Yusuke asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Yes." I answered, mildly surprised at the abrupt guess.

"So, it's YOUR fault!!!"

...

"What?" Yari finally asked, while the rest of us (Besides Keiko who was giggling uncontrollably, Hiei who was scowling out the window and Kuwabara who was playing with Kirara,) blinked in confusion.

"Koenma gave us some shit about keeping the team all in one place and easier to reach," Yusuke said, scratching his chin. "So he did a little handiwork and got Me, Hiei and Kuwabara into Tokyo U."

"WHAT?!?!?!" Eyes widened with shock as we tried to process what Yusuke just told us. Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara... In Toyko U.

The first giggles came from Sango.

Within five minutes, the whole room was dissolved in laugher, including the youkai who didn't know what the Hell college was.

"Alright, Alright! It's not that funny!!!"

"Puu!!" Yusuke's spirit beast happily cooed from his head.

"I'm going, too, though I got in the same way You guys did; hard work." Keiko said, smiling at me and Kagome.

"Koenma wants me to go, too. That way I can keep an eye on all the boys," Botan announced.

"What are you, our babysitter now?" Yusuke muttered with a dirty look towards the grim reaper.

"Well everything considered, you certainly need one."

"Hey!"

"Do you know what classes you're taking in Tokyo U?" Keiko asked, cutting her boyfriend off.

"I was thinking about something with mythology or history." Kagome said thoughtfully.

"Something more with weapons for me," Sango answered.

"Feh. Who cares?"

"Yusuke!!!"

"What?"

'BAM!!!'

"Do they do that a lot?" Katrina asked in amusement as Yusuke rubbed his bump.

"Yep." Ganko answered, smirking.

"You get used to it," Yari said, with a smile towards the newest spirit detective. (AN; I just counted and realized there are nine different kitsunes in this now, not including Kaigan and anyone currently at the castle,)

We didn't know much about Katrina. Only what we've seen and heard from her. She had informed us that her family was dead, and she'd been a wanderer for a long time before stumbling into Koenma, and was very talented with the katana and had sme minor control of plantlife, but other than that, she kept mostly to herself. She wasn't mean, or anything, just a little quiet, which was understandable, considering she knew all of us as well as we knew her.

Botan had told us the Katrina was mostly a solo detective and a greatly valued spy, which was, when you think about it, the best place to put a shadow kitsune, considering their abilities to shift through shadows, and how difficult it was to detect them. When Koenma realized we needed a fifth fighter, he decided to call Katrina in for her talents, and the fact that she, herself was a shadow kistune and therefore knew the ins and outs of their culture better than we did. (Surprisingly enough, he still hasn't caught onto the fact that we know the Shadow Kitsune royal family quite well.)

"It's nice to hear you guys are going," Kagome said brightly, "I was worried the only people there I'd know would be Sango and Kurama."

"You could always make InuYasha go, too," Shippo said a little too innocently.

"Shippo, how many times do I have to tell you-!"

"Why not?"

All eyes turned to the hanyou in varying degrees of shock. We'd expected him to react by calling Shippo a brat and hitting over the head, only to be pummeled himself by the army of vixens who now adored the little kit with a passion. To hear him so nonchalant about the hidden insult was a little disturbing.

"What?" Kagome asked, blinking.

"My second in command can take over while I'm gone. He could use the practice, and besides, Your mother's been bugging me about it, anyways."

"She has?" Kagome asked, her confusion increasing.

"Yeah. She wanted me to make sure he security around you was real tight. She even suggested having armed spies follow you until she heard Kurama would be there." Kagome frowned.

"That's bizarre. Mama knows I can take care of myself, why's she being so paranoid?"

"She's a parent, Kagome. It's only natural for her to be paranoid when a child is out of her line of sight." Yakuso said, reasonably. "If you need prof, take a look at how Yari and Miroku are turning out."

"HEY!!!!" The whole room laughed at the sisterly bickering, except for Kagome, who appeared deep in thought. I gave her hand a gentle squeeze, distracting her long enough to earn a smile before she stood up.

"Hey, Ganko, Has the Ningenkai royal Shadow Kitsune family come around the castle while I was gone?" Ganko looked startled at the question.

"What?"

"Kaigan. Has he been around any while I was gone?"

"Once or twice I think. Why?"

"I ran into him today,"

"WHAT!!!" Yari said, almost jumping up. Yakuso and Ganko looked startled as well.

"Well, actually, he found me sitting on the bench waiting for Kurama and, well, you get the picture."

"Kaigan? He never comes to things like this!!!" Ganko said skeptically.

"It was him, alright. He said the Ningenkai Shadow kitsunes were upset because they were considered underdogs." That made sense. Kitsunes where very prideful creatures, no matter what the breed or where they lived, and didn't take well to being called weak.

"Maybe, Kagome," Yari said, unusually serious. "But have you ever considered what he was like in the past?"

"Oh, come on, guys, there's no way he can still have a crush on me! We haven't seen each other for nearly eleven years!!!"

::WHAT?!?!?!:: Youko growled, unhappy at the prospect of anyone except him having feelings for Kagome. The three shadow kitsune companions didn't look convinced at Kagome's reason.

"Well, We should probably be getting back to our hotel room, now. There's a big match tomorrow. Kagome, you wouldn't mind going ahead with the children, would you?" Souta, Kohaku and Shippo dragged my unfortunate girlfriend (And hopefully mate-to-be) out the door before she could even work up a protest.

"Hey, silver," Ganko said frowning at me. "I need to talk to you about something." I rose an eyebrow as Ganko made his way out the door and into the hall before standing up and calmly following him.

"Yes?"

"First off, you can't tell Princess I told yoy anything you're about to hear. She'd kill me if she found out..."

"Agreed," Youko said before I could stop him.

((Youko!!!))

::Shut up. In case you haven't noticed, he's serious::

"Kaigan is the Heir to the Throne of the Shadow Kitsune Kingdom in the Ningenkai. He and Kagome met when we were all kids, and he developed a crush on her. It was innocent enough until that crush turned into a near obsession."

"Obsession?"

"He became bound and determined to have Kagome be his. Kagome never saw it, or she chose to ignore it, but the rest of us got worried. Kaigan stopped showing up when Kagome disappeared, and since he wasn't at the ceremony for Queen Yame's reappointment to the throne, we figured he'd found a different vixen for a mate or something along those lines."

"But now that he's here, you're worried he might actually still have a fixation for Kagome," I finished for him. Despite all their bickering, Kagome and Ganko viewed each other as valued family members, like siblings, and wouldn't allow anything to happen to each other.

Though the gods forbid they admit that out loud.

"Just keep an eye on her, and stick close whenever he's around. Kagome's right, the Queen has been a little more concerned about her safety lately, and none of us know why. But now that Kaigan's shown up, we think he might be the cause." I nodded.

"I'll watch them," I promised before reentering our hotel room. I noticed that all except for Kireishi had retired for the night. My sister appeared to be gathering the empty tea cups when I entered.

When Kireishi turned, all tea cups stacked onto a serving tray, and started for the kitchen, I mentally sighed and stepped forward, steadying her when her foot caught the edge of the rug and she started to fall forward, all the cups shattering when they fell off the tray.

::Guess we forgot to warn the others abut letting her handle breakables.:: Youko admitted sheepishly.

"Oh! I'm sorry!!! Now I probably woke everyone up!!! Here, let me-!!!"

"It's fine, Kireishi." I said with a reassuring smile to the easily flustered girl. "We'll just clean it up and get to bed," Kireishi relaxed and smiled sheepishly.

"Guess my grace hasn't gotten any better, huh?"

"Not really," I said with a small smile, remembering all the times Kireishi's clumsiness got her into rather embarrassing messes.

"So, what did that shadow kitsune want to talk to you about?" Kireishi asked, as we gathered the broken shards.

"Ganko?" I asked, mildly surprised at the small blush that appeared on her cheek and the way her telltale eyes tinted orange at the name, "He just wanted to warn me about the kitsune Kagome mentioned."

"Why just you?" Kireishi asked, her voice taking on a slightly slyer tone, "I mean, all of your friends are her friends too, right? Why not tell everybody?"

"That could have something to do with the fact that I am considering asking her to be my mate." If the sound of the china breaking didn't wake the others up, Kireishi's screech would've done the trick.

"Really?!?! She's really the one you want?!?! Oh, wow, Youko!!! That's so wonderful!!!" All the shards Kireishi collected fell back to the ground as she threw her arms around my neck. "Kagome seems like a really nice girl, too, and her kit!!! Kawaii!!! And now I'm gonna be his aunt!!! AND I'll get Kagome for a sister!!! Wow!!!" I shook my head as my sister's eyes turned a vivid shade of green as she daydreamed about what my mating Kagome meant for her.

"We'd better get to bed," I told her, throwing the remains or the cups away and getting a spare pillow and blanket from the closet, setting Kireishi up a bed on the couch.

"Right. Night, Youko."

"Goodnight, Kireishi." I smiled when I climbed into bed, thinking of Kireishi's reaction. But my smile faded when I thought of something.

It was true, I wanted Kagome to be my mate, and I knew she wanted e for one but with all the things happening in our lives, my being a spirit detective and her being royalty, could we ever truly get the life we wanted?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DV- There! I hope this makes up for last chapter!!!

QFF- It's a start...

DV- Good, now here's how the vote goes thus far;

Sango-IIIIIII (7)

Hiei-II (2)

Yusuke-III (3)

Keiko-III (3)

Botan-I (1)

InuYasha-II (2)

Miroku-I (1)

Kuwabara- (0)

Yukina-I (1)

Ganko-II (2)

Yari- (0)

Yakuso- (0)

Kireishi- (Kireishi-chan gave me permission to put her up here, To which I extend her a great, big THANK YOU!!!!!!!!)

Botan- It's the same as last chapter, two votes per person, and you can't vote for the same character twice in one chapter. This is your last chapter to vote (unless there's a tie or something) so feel free to vote for the last two POVs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kagome- Right, so review and vote!!!

Botan- Ja!!!


	4. The First Match and More New and Old 'Fr...

Sorry it took so long, but this time it wasn't my fault!!!! The computer crashed (again) and banned me because of some stupid little bitch reporting a story of mine! I had this story ready nearly a week ago, but so many things got in the way!!!

Fanfiction reviews;

FoxylilRaven (thanks for the vote, and the compliment!)

kireishi-chan (lol Thanks! I love making people smile!!! I'll catch you on AIM as soon as dad gets it up again.)

inu-angel247 (Thank you! here's the update. Like i said, I would've had it up sooner, but something up there was against me getting this up.)

Fallen-666-Angel ('Catches Fallen' HAH!!!!!!!!!!! MY GANKO!!!!!! MINE!!!!!!!!!!! thanks for the review, and the vote. lol. Actually, Not many people DID vote Hiei. I think he scares people. SUGAR!!!!!!)

yup. its me (I agree, all the characters i borrowed are really fun!!! course, I STILL have to watch out for ganko-admirers... 'glares at Fallen-666-Angel')

Crying Crystal Teardrops (Wow, thanks! That's a huge help!!! if you want, I can get Rufio in here, too. And as far as newborns are concerned, that'll play in nicely with Yari's pregnancy.)

Choas Babe (FINALYY!!!! I though NO ONE would vote for them!!! Thanks for the review!!!!!)

Why?What?Shutup (O.O now, we don't have to get the fans involved... do we? Ehehe... 'backing up,')

star's dreams (Yeah, I love Kireishi's clumsiness. I'm having so much fun with it!!! I can't see Yusuke enjoying any sort of school, but I am really eager to get to the college chapters! Those are gonna be fun. Hehe...)

Pitbull123 (Here's the update!)

icekaia (...has anyone ever told you too much sugar consumption is hazardous to your health?)

Luscious (Yes, 's been a bitch to me lately. 'cocks head innocently,' Did I say anything about Kagome not having any compitition? Sure she's not getting it from Kireishi, but later chapters...)

ptbear (Thank you! You'll have to wait and see! It get's more tangled up this chappie.)

empress-of-the-shadow (Thank you! I've actually got alot of people who like more than one of my stories, though I can't imagine why...)

empress-of-the-shadow (Thanks!!! ...I can probably fit Eden in here, but she's definately gonna be the last character not owned by me who comes in!!!)

Ying Yang Hime (What you don't like my cliffies? 'blinks innocently,' I can change them around a little if you'd like...)

PriestessKikyoMarie (Thanks!!! Heh. Well, that makes 2 votes for each. Really? Most people like Ganko better... It's scary when one of your original characters has a fan club. Yari and Yakuso play a bigger rollin this story, but sadly neither will have POVs.)

Mediaminer reviews;

Inubunny (Thanks!!!!!!)

DV- Welcome back!!!

QFF- Great to see all of ya again!!!

Chiisai- Someone please get me out of here.

DV- Come on, Chiisai!!! You know you love us!!! Who wouldn't? 'slight pause' don't answer that.

Chiisai- 'to the readers' I'll give $500 to anyone who gets me out of here.

QFF- Forget it.

DV- Yeah, they're MUCH more interested in this story than your freedom!

Chiisai- You're right...

DV- I am? 'glares suspiciously at Chiisai,'

Chiisai- Which is why I'm now offering $1000 AND a complete summary of the plot for this story, including who the mystery man is and how it's gonna end!!!

DV- WHAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yusuke- 'munching on popcorn' This is getting good...

Botan- 'steals some of Yusuke's popcorn,' my money's on Chiisai!!!

Inu- No way!!! That bitch doesn't let us get away with anything!!!

Kagome- Well, since everyone else is busy, I'll do the disclaimer. All characters from Yuyu Hakusho or InuYasha and Katrina, Kat and Kireishi are not owned by DreamVixen. Anyone who doesn't fall under those two animes or isn't one of the characters mentioned is and DV has been known to bite those who try and steal them.

Sango- My POV won out overwhelmingly, so that's what this chapter will be done in!!!

---------------------------First Match and More New and Old 'Friends'--------------------------

.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0SANGO 0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.

"Let's see, we're up against Team Kaihi Tekina first," Kagome muttered, craning her neck back to look at the enormous television screen that showed the match ups. "Kami, that looks like a lot more than 32 teams!"

"Probably cause it is," a scruffy old youkai that appeared to be a janitor said as he emptied a trashcan, "there were too many teams entering this year, so they upped the starting number. That's 64 teams your looking at doll-face," Kagome paled, obviously too uptight to even be angry at the rude nickname.

**Calm down, Kagome, it's just one extra team for us to face, **I said, trying to soothe her nerves.

**Right, right of course. One more team. No worries.** She said, not sounding too calm.

"I don't see us on here!!!" Yusuke complained.

"Down here," Kurama said, not looking away from the match ups. "Match 15, number 30." We looked to where he'd specified and found that Team Urameshi was indeed there.

"Just two matches before us," An unfamiliar voice said behind us. We turned to find a large demon standing there with a little boy, a red haired demon and a blue haired one, along with an animal hybred female.

"No way!!!" Yusuke exclaimed, his face lighting up, "What the hell are you four doing here?!?!"

"Well duh, we're here to fight," The little boy said cheerfully, "Why else would a team be competing here?"

"Other than the bunch'a dunderheads here that want a piece of that kitsune princess of course," the red-head said equally cheerfully. Kagome fought a smile while the rest of us choked back our laugher.

"I couldn't have phrased it better myself," Yari muttered, grinning at Kagome.

"Really? Where are you guys?" Botan asked

"Smack dab in the center," the big guy said loudly, "Number 33 you guys only just missed us,"

"So, you're all on one team now, eh?" Yusuke grinned, "Shame, I wanted a rematch."

"Don't worry, Urameshi," the red-head promised with a cocky smirk I thought only Yusuke and InuYasha could pull off, "You'll get it,"

"Who's she?" Kuwabara asked curiously, pointing to the girl who was watching everything in an amused sort of way. She jumped at the chance to introduce herself.

"Name's Kat, I'm their fifth man. Well, technically **woman** I suppose..." she said cocking her head at the team," You guys are the spirit detectives, right? Err... some of you don't look as dangerous as I'd have hoped, (We couldn't help but notice her eyes were on Kuwabara as she said this,) but I supposed I could give ya a go when it comes time to kick your butt."

"You're groups grown as well," The blue hair man finally spoke up, his eyes on us, "friends of yours?"

"Huh? OH!!!" apparently, Yusuke had forgotten all about us.

"This is another team in the tournament, and yes, we're well acquainted with all of them," Kurama said calmly.

"Well, then I guess it's only proper to introduce ourselves." The big guy said again, "I'm Chuu, and the runt here is Rinko. Over there are Jin and Touya. You already met Kat," Kagome smiled and gave a polite bow without knocking Shippo off her shoulder.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Kagome, and these are my fellow teammates, Sango, InuYasha, Ganko and Miroku." Miroku and I bowed as we were introduced, but Ganko gave them a carefree salute and InuYasha just 'feh!'ed. "The rest of our friends are only spectators."

"For obvious reasons in some of our cases," Yari joked lightly, patting her enlarged tummy. I shook my head and smiled. She was so excited about her baby...

"So, how did a law abiding group such as yourself get involved with a load of riffraff like Urameshi?" Jin asked with a lazy grin.

"Hn. Fool. You were talking about the girl ten minutes ago," Hiei said from where he was leaning against the wall, eyes closed.

**And here I was starting to think you were incapable of interacting with others,** I mocked irritably. I'd been there for nearly two days and he hadn't said a word to me.

=I don't need lectures about my social skills from you, neko.= Hiei said without opening his eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him.

**Want a lecture about something else, then? I'd be more than happy to comply...** I finally got a physical reaction. Hiiei's head shot up and his eyes snapped open to glare at me, causing most people to jump.

=Don't test me right now, neko, I'm not in the mood,=

**Who's testing? I'm serious you egoistic mind reader!** I replied hotly, glaring back. Hiei growled.

=Obviously, they forgot to let you out of that castle long enough for you to get stuck in a tree.=

**Why you-!**

And without another word, Hiei was gone. I growled and started towards where I felt his brainwaves coming from, but was restrained by Kagome.

"Calm down, Sango," She said, "Now's not the time for a clash of prides. Save it for the ring,"

He was just sticking up for Kagome, you know, Kirara said from Rin's arms In his own, twisted little way, anyways,

"Shut up!!!"

"...did anyone say anything?" Jin asked in confusion.

"The cat," Ganko answered, snickering. Kagome sighed and, after smacking Ganko across the head, turned to our newest acquaintances.

"Sorry about that. Sango's a telepath and well..."

"Enough said," Chuu said with a chuckle.

"What'd the half-pint mean by that, anyway?" Kuwabara asked in confusion, causing everyone else to sweat drop.

"Milady!!!" InuYasha and Ganko both groaned at the familiar voice, and glared at the toad demon that entered right after it. "Yakuso-sama, I have an urgent letter from his lordship for you and Rin-hime," Yakuso sighed.

"Thank you, Jaken, leave it in our hotel room, please,"

"Yes, My lady," Jaken said with a bow. "And Kagome-hime, your mother wished for me to inform you that all records for your new schooling have arrived. She is going to go over them with someone named Minamimo-san tomorrow." Kagome and Kurama winced in union as everyone else snickered at their expense.

"thank you, Jaken. Is that all?"

"Yes, Milady!" he croaked.

"Then please inform my mate his message has been received and I will read it tonight."

"And tell my mother not to make any plans without me," Kagome added in a pained voice. Jaken bowed in respect.

"And make sure someone's feeding Ah-un for me!!!" Everyone sweat dropped at

Rin's odd request. Leave it to her to worry about random things at a time like this...

"Of course, My ladies, the messages will be passed along," And with that, the toad scurried out." Kagome frowned at Yakuso.

"Are you sure you shouldn't have taken that message immediately? It's not like Sessho-maru to send anything without a damn good cause,"

"It's more than likely something about Rin's love life again," Yakuso said with a sigh and a barely contained smile, "Perhaps he found the box hidden in the secret compartment behind the blue kimono in Rin's wardrobe closet..."

"YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!?!?!?!"

"You're the kitsune princess everyone wants a piece of?" Rinku asked, blinking. Ganko snickered again, this time cut off by his sister. Kagome flashed a half hearted glare in Ganko's direction before smiling at the boy.

"Well, yes, but I generally don't hear myself referred to in that particular term," Jin laughed nervously.

"Naturally that was a poke at the numbskulls entering the tournament. I didn't mean to offend you, lassie." Kagome laughed and smiled at the demon.

"It's alright, I've been called worse," She said brightly.

"Yeah," Ganko said, just as cheerful, "Like a loudmouth busybody of a princess who's mean enough to make a fire-breather look like a kit."

'BAM!!!'

"Is he gonna be okay..." Kireishi asked uncertainly as she watched Ganko's twitching form.

"Oh, don't worry," Yari assured her with a friendly smile, "His head is the thickest stuff in the world. He'll pop right back up soon," sure enough, Ganko was back on his feet not seconds after Yari had finished assuring Kireishi.

"Like I said, she's vicious. Ugly as a toad, too. Can't imagine why so many guys showed up..."

"Why you-!"

"Children!" I said, restraining Kagome from hitting Ganko again. "Really, Ganko, you're already received a warning because of that whole incident you pulled with Shippo in the kitchen last week, do you really want to see what the Queen would do to you if she heard you disobeyed another direct order?" Ganko flinched.

**Why didn't you let me hit him?!?!**

**Because it never changes his behavior.**

**So? Miroku never learned after all the times you hit him.**

**That's different!!!**

**How so?** I glared at Kagome who smirked back.

"Shut up."

"Technically, I didn't say anything,"

"If you three are done," Katrina said in amusement, "I think you have a match to prepare for in thirty minuets? And I really don't recommend fighting in such stylish kimonos," Kagome and I looked down at our fashionable silk kimonos.

....

"SHIT!!!!!!!" Kagome quickly dropped Shippo into Kurama's arms, and we started pushing our way through the crowd towards our hotel room.

"Wait!!! What the hell are we supposed to tell the judges?!?!?!?!"

"Tell 'em we'll be right there!!!" Kagome called back. Then she cringed as someone stepped on her foot. "Oh, this'll take forever. Here!!!!" and, with little warning, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the shadows.

I hadn't had much practice phasing through shadows, and still found the almost total darkness and the think feel of the air pressing in around me very unnerving. The only places there were lights were where the shadows we could come out were, almost like oddly shaped (and sometimes moving) windows.

Kagome 'swam' ahead, still pulling me until I got used to the strange feel and was able to 'swim' myself.

We came out in a shadow in the living room in our hotel room, quickly hurrying to our personal rooms to change into our fighting clothes.

A few minuets later, Kagome was dressed in a beautiful miko garb of black and silver silk that had a design on the back in black, violet and blue silk of a fox on the back, with her ebony bow slung across her back, along with arrows tipped in the rarest and strongest black diamonds and ending with the tail feathers of a blue phoenix that were spelled to always return to the quiver when Kagome wanted them to.

Her outfit had been made by Kaede and the village, and left in Yakuso's care until she met with us again. It was obvious the old miko and the villagers had pored a lot of effort into the clothes, so much so that Kagome hesitated to wear them, until Yakuso reminded her that Kaede would've wanted Kagome to have the comfort of an outfit given by those who loved her during such a stressful time. Even so, Kagome put several spells on the silk, making it tear and stain-proof.

A katana with a black grip and violet sheath rested on her left hip, and her right arm had black armor on it. She'd pulled her hair back into a braid, tying it right above the violet tips with a blue ribbon.

I was wearing a silk fighting kimono Kaede and the village had left for me as well. It was silver, with blue and violet sakuras and a black cat with silver eyes on the back, and black fighting pants underneath. The same spells Kagome had on her clothes were upon all of my clothes . I had armor on my chest, my right arm and shoulder and my knees. I also had a katana at my left hip and Hirakotsu strapped across my back in a manner that allowed easy access in case I needed it.

My hair was pulled back with a dark blue ribbon, and I had silver earrings that could double as knives in an emergency with a little magic I had learned thanks to Kagome's powers through our bond.

"Ready?" Kagome asked.

"Are we walking this time?"

"We only have five minutes to get there," I sighed. Damn.

"Phase away," and with that, Kagome and I jumped into the couch's shadow.

**It's not as bad as you like to pretend, you know,** Kagome said as we 'swam' towards the stadium. **It's actually very comforting,**

**Yeah, for you** I said, rolling my eyes **Technically, this is your element,** Kagome shook her head.

**I really don't see how Hiei can put up with you,** She said with an innocence only she was capable of, **You're near impossible...**

**How about I pretend you didn't say that and you pretend I'm not gonna strangle you as soon as we're out of here?**

**Done!** Kagome said cheerfully.

Finally, we found the combined shadows of our teammates and pulled ourselves up through them. None of the boys seemed that surprised at our means of travel, and Miroku even helped us up. (We were wary of his hands the entire time. Mated though he may be, our monk was still a lecher.)

"Bout time," InuYasha grumbled. "We go out in one fucking minuet!!!!!"

InuYasha was simply wearing his fire-rat hakamas and haori, claiming he didn't see the point of dressing up to fight. Miroku and Ganko seemed to agree with his reasoning, as the houshi just wore his monk robes and Queen Yame's Leading General wore the traditional armor of a shadow kitsune.

"Women always take forever, hanyou," Ganko said, brushing a strand of his bangs away from his eyes and dodging with a fluid grace when Kagome and I moved to hit him. "What? It's a fact of life!!!!"

"Hmph!!!" Kagome's pout cleared up when the main judge entered.

"Are you five ready?"

"As ready as We'll ever be." I sighed. And, with that, we walked out into the ring to a roaring crowd and our opponents. Ganko chose to lean against the entrance way, a little in the shadows, while the rest of us stood a little ways in front of him, already wanting to get this over with ASAP. Our opponents had no real strength to them whatsoever, just brute force.

"Ladies and gentlemen of all the realms, let me introduce the first two teams of the Trirealm Tournament, Team Kaihi Tekina and Team Shadow Kitsune!!!!!" loud roars greeted his words, "Now, I will hand this fight over to the referee, Joku, who will explain the rules." A pretty eagle youkai stepped forward and nodded to the head judge as he accepted the mike from him.

"The rules are simple; fights are chosen randomly by a computer database, and shown on the screen as they are picked. The person who wins the match will get to choose if he or she wants to stay for another fight, or pass it on to one of their teammates. If they choose to sit it out, they may be called back in at a later time. If a fighter chooses not to go in a match they were supposed to, it counts as a loss for their team. Killing and weapons are permitted, and you can't touch the ground outside of the ring for more than five counts, and if you stay down for ten counts, you lose. That said. Let's fire up the computer!!!" the giant screen was split down the middle, and images of our fighters flashed on one side as images of our opponents flashed on the other.

Then, the one for Team Kaihi Tekina stopped on the image of an overly muscular tiger youkai.

"And the first fighter for Team Kaihi Tekina is Keshisaru!!!" the ground shook as the giant youkai stepped forward and the crowd roared it's approval. Then, our sides started to slow down, then stopped on... "And InuYasha is the first one up on Team Shadow Kitsune!!!" more roaring greeted this as our arrogant hanyou jumped into the ring. "Are you two ready?"

"Just start the match," Keshisaru rumbled.

"Feh!" Joku sweat dropped.

"BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!"

Keshisaru leapt for InuYasha, who drew Tetsusiaga and sliced his arm off. Keshisaru screamed in pain and fell back, clutching the bloody stump.

"Incredible! InuYasha took Keshisaru's arm off in one swing!!! ...But where did the giant katana come from?"

"You'll pay for that!!!!" Keshisaru cried, lunging at InuYasha again. One slice later, he was in pieces at InuYasha's feet.

"Too easy," InuYasha snorted, resting Tetsusiaga on his shoulder, "Why not just let me fight them all at once? It'll make time go by faster." The rest of Team Kaihi Tekina growled at the inu hanyou.

"Well, it is allowed sometimes, but only of the judges okay it and the other team is for it." Joku said frowning at him in a thoughtful way.

"We'll do it," the largest of our opponents said, "We'll show this half-breed to be careful of what he wishes for."

"Alright then, do we have an okay from the judges?" Joku asked, looking at where the judges sat. The head judge gave a short nod, and the crowd roared as the rest of Team Kaihi Tekina entered the ring.

"Go InuYasha!!!" We heard Botan yell from the crowd, causing Ganko to snicker and the rest of us to smirk or try to hide our smiled a InuYasha blushed so lightly, no one who wasn't looking for it could see it.

"BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Joku yelled, all of InuYasha's opponents jumped for him at once.

"And here's where they find out Tetsusiaga was made for more than one opponent," Ganko muttered from where he was standing. Sure enough, InuYasha cut down all four fighters in one sweep of his sword, drawing astounded murmurs from the crowd as the demons dissolved into nothingness.

"Wow, amazing!!!! One swing!!!!! This is no ordinary hanyou, folks, Team Shadow Kitsune has definitely chosen well with this fighter!!!!!!!" there was an awed murmur running through the crowd as Joku spoke.

"If she doesn't shut up soon, InuYasha might risk falling over from the weight of his head," Kagome said dryly as The hanyou sheathed Tetsusiaga and folded his arms, an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Right, and the winner of this match in a dominating display is Team Shadow Kitsune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" one again, the crowd roared as the rest f us turned to leave the arena.

"Not bad, Dog-boy," Ganko said as soon as we where out of there. "too bad the opponents only get stronger,"

"Feh!!!" InuYasha crossed his arms, "I can take 'em!!!"

"That was a rather impressive display," An unfamiliar voice interrupted. We wheeled around to face two shadow kitsunes standing in front of us. Sometimes I really despised their ability to stay undetected.

That thought was pushed out of my mind as Kagome let out an alarmed gasp and Ganko started to growl. One of the kitsunes gave Ganko a half smile.

"Easy, friend, I'm not here to hassle you," He said. The other remained silent. "I had simply come to see if the princess had chosen well for her team. So far, it looks like her judgment was sound, with the exception of you," here he sighed, "I really don't know what she was thinking in allowing a two timing brat pretending to be a general on her team,"

"Why did you want to speak with me, Shijin," Kagome asked, one hand on Ganko's shoulder to keep him from killing the guy. Shijin's gray eyes flashed in amusement.

"Ah, so you remember me. I am honored, my lady."

"Cut to the chase!" Ganko growled. The blue haired kitsune shrugged.

"Like I said, I was simply measuring your team's potential. Now that I see it, I'll be on my way." And with that, he stepped forward, taking Kagome's hand and lightly kissing it, before turning around and starting away. "Bukakko, it's time we leave. We are obviously not welcome here," the other blue haired, gray eyed kitsune followed him away, and Ganko's growls didn't stop until they were gone.

"Damn it!!!" He growled, glaring at the shadow they had slipped away in, "And I was in a good mood, too!!!" Kagome sighed.

"Another complication," She muttered, frowning and playing with the end of her braid, "Just perfect,"

"Who the Hell were those two?!" InuYasha demanded.

"Shijin and his younger brother, Bukakko," Ganko said with a snort, "the sons of a high up lord that was one of Kurai's closest friends. He was even talking about betrothing Kagome to Shijin for a while a few years before she disappeared. Ever since then, Shijin's treated Kagome like he owned her. I thought he disappeared after Kurai died."

**You okay Kagome?**

**Fine.**

**Bull. What's wrong?**

**Nothing! Its just shock is all,** Kagome bit her lip. **The look in his eyes hasn't changed. Like he'd devour me if given half the chance.**

**I could introduce him to Hirakotsu if you want,** I said, clutching the bone boomerang and raising an eyebrow at her. Kagome mentally laughed and visibly relaxed.

**No thanks. Hopefully, he won't be that much of a problem,** I hoped so as well. After all Kagome had done, she deserved to be happy.

And Kami help me, I'd hurt anyone who tried to stand between my best friend and the guy she loved.

DV- Don't you love it when little twists and turns get thrown in?

QFF- NO!!!!!!!!!!! Where's Chiisai, I'm taking her up on that offer!!!

DV- Bound, gagged and hidden somewhere.

Kagome- You're evil.

DV- Tell me something I don't know. By the way, I have big news for all of you!!! I'm going to put a picture on mediaminer!!!!!! as soon as Dad get's the scanner up and running, anyways.

Botan- Of what?

DV- 'Hiding behind a wall of sandbags.' Ganko.

Inu- Big deal.

QFF- Which one?

DV- The one I had to fight you to get back when you saw it. 'putting on helmet.'

QFF- SHIRTLESS GANKO!!!!!!!!!!! 'vanishes in a whirl of dust.'

'Stampede of Ganko admirers storm through, following her, accidentally stampeding some of the characters,'

...

Yusuke- 'cough cough'

Kagome- Ow...

Shippo- That's kinda scary.

DV- Anyways, it'll be under the same penname I have here. It's not the best work of art out there, but it should give you a general idea of what Ganko looks like, which was the point behind it anyways. And please review before you leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHiisai- And as far as the vote goes, it was supposed to end this chapter, but there was a four way tie for second place. So now you need to vote between the four, Ganko, InuYasha, Yusuke and Keiko.

DV- So hurry up and vote!!! And pray Dad fixes the Damn scanner...


	5. Reikai Scholarship

. Yayness!!!!!!!!!!

Fanfiction;

FoxylilRaven (...actually that was the first reason Kireishi was brought in. You're the first to catch on, though, really sharp!!!)

silverkitsunekagome (sure!!! I just gotta get the stupid scanne fixed first...)

Why?What?Shutup (Thank you! 'shutter')

Choas Babe (Wow, that's... wow. Actually, most of the females that ARE after him seem to have some loose screws...)

inu-angel247 (Que pasa? Quieres leer mi cuenta? Es muy buena!!! Pero, lo siento por no respona pronto. Espaniol es muy divertido, no? Yo estudia por las trez anos!!! .)

kireishi-chan (HEY!!! I got the side fic up now, if you wanna check that out! Hopefully you will,there's a bit of Kireishi in it. I'll get the pic up ASAP lol, i've had those...)

star's dreams (Thank you!!! There's another one this chapter!!! lol. You can try, but i'm gonna try to throw you for a loop more than once. .)

Sanaka (Thank you. Actually, this chapter might surprise you I'll try!!!)

foxylilraven (... Did i ever say she wasn't? 'Looks back furoiusly through story.' If i didn, I don't see it... Sorry if I did, though!!!! I know she's a girl, it might've just been a typo... stupid evil computer...)

Fallen-666-Angel (wow!!! The pic's being delayed, but I have another Ganko treat!!! You'll hear more about it at the end of this chapter,)

KagomeYasha4448 (Thank you!!! I'm trying... 'kicks scanner and screams profanity at it,')

sunstar kitsune (You'll find out this chappie!!!)

blackestheart (Thank you!!!)

ptbear (hehehe... 'evil smirk,')

youko's kitsune luvergurl (Thank you!!! There's Kur/Kag fluff next chappie. this one's more experimental with a new POV to me.)

Ying Yang (Believe me, i'm turning the heat up after this chappie. Also, Kagome's gonna have compitition, too.)

mai (There's a tad bit of Botan Inu this chappie, and much more to come. I think it's SUCH a kawaii pairing!!! Inu needs someone as chery as Botan in his life!!!)

Mediaminer;

Luscious (both have been being mean to me lately... 'grumbles incoherently' Chiisai- Come on!!! That's not fair!!! DV- Shut up!!! Thanks and here's my update!!! Ja ne!!!)

kireishi (Hello again!!! Like i said, I'm waiting for the scanner to comply... It should be all better by tomorrow. So, cross your fingers!!!)

Inubunny ('Lol' but of course!!! Everybody loves love!!! More baddies to come!!! Although some of them aren't really as bad as you may think... while others may be worse. .)

RabidFangirl101 (-.- 'sigh' How many times am I gonna hafta steal Ganko back from someone?!?!)

----------------------------------------

DV & QFF- O.O;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Inu- What's your problem?!

DV- The... the votes...

Everyone- o.0

QFF- Fourth place for the second POV didn't even get a vote last chappie, and the winning POV won with only three new votes.

Kagome- Really? Who won?

Inu- Feh! Me, of course!!!

Yusuke- No way, I won!!!

QFF- Actually, neither of you won.

Inu- WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yusuke- Don't tell me that stupid fox-boy won!!!!!

DV- 'Smacks Yusuke across the head,' Ganko's not stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mildly arrogant and a bit of a goof off, yes, but he isn't stupid!!!!!!!!!!

Kurama- So, Ganko is the POV this chapter?

Chiisai- We never said that.

Sango- Then who...?

QFF- 4th place, Yusuke with no new votes!

Yusuke- WHAT?!?!?!?!??!?!?

Chiisai- 3rd place, InuYasha with one new vote.

Inu- Hey!!!!!!

QFF- 2nd place, Ganko, with 2 new votes!!!

Botan- Then that means...

DV- Yep, first place and the new POV, KEIKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

...

...

...

Keiko- Me?!

Yusuke- That's... wow.

DV- That said, me no own Inu, Yuyu, Kireishi, Kat, or Eden. All other characters are mine and shall remain mine until further notice. Including Ganko. 'glares at Fallen-666-angel.' Got that? MINE!!!!!!!!!!

------------------------------------------Reikai Scholarship-------------------------------------------

.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0 KEIKO 0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.

"I coulda done that..." Yusuke muttered under his breath as InuYasha sheathed his katana. I bit back a laugh as Botan glared at him.

"Right, and the winner of this match in a dominating display is Team Shadow Kitsune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Botan started cheering loudly as InuYasha joined the others. Ganko had kept to the shadows the entire time, which I thought was weird for him, considering what an attention hog he usually is.

"Wow, quite a bit of power your boyfriend has there," Kat said to Botan as InuYasha and the others left the arena. Botan sputtered and turned a brilliant shade of maroon. I smacked Yusuke in the head as he started to snicker.

"Knock it off, Yusuke," I said, glaring at him, "You're being rude."

"Erm, well, I-InuYasha isn't exactly my boyfriend..."

"Really? I thought you two were dating, too. Are you mates, then?" Kireishi asked, cocking her head. Botan's face colored even darker.

"No..." Shaking my head, I interrupted before my rei guide friend died of embarrassment.

"Come on, we'd better go meet up with the others."

"Yeah," Yari agreed, "InuYasha's boasting is probably driving them all mad by now,"

"Either that or Kagome and Ganko's bickering," Shizuru said in amusement.

"Why do those two fight so much?" Kireishi asked as we got up.

"Habit," Yakuso answered. "They've been doing it since the day they met, they don't know how else to act towards each other."

"Yeah," Rin said petting Hogosha, "Like Daddy and Uncle Inu. Or Sango and Hiei."

"Speaking of short and silent, where is he?" Yusuke asked, looking around.

"Above the left stadium exit, third story." Kurama said absentmindedly. We looked just in time to see a black blur vanish.

"Hmph. Probably thinks he's too good to be around us," Kuwabara said, glaring at the spot Hiei last was.

"While that's true for you, it's hardly logical for the others,"

"WHA!!!!!!!!!" Kuwabara glared at Hiei, who was standing right behind him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled.

"Hn." Hiei followed Kurama and the other demons in our group to the exit, not interested in the next fight. The humans all followed, I kept close to Yusuke when I saw a couple of ugly demons leering at me. Why did that happen every time I came to these tournaments?

"How long should this tournament last?" Yukina asked as she hurried to keep pace.

"Not long," Rin answered.

"Koenma said it was only about a week long," Katrina said offhandedly. Just a week, huh? Well, I suppose I'd run into Kagome, InuYasha and Sango at College.

Mom and Dad were ecstatic I was going to Tokyo U. Though they were a little worried about tuition. Our little restaurant didn't make much money...

"WHAT?!" We all stopped dead at Kagome's yell. "InuYasha, you can't do that!!!! It's against the rules!!! We'll be disqualified!!!!"

"Feh. So?" I smiled a bit at the look on Botan's face at InuYasha's trademark response. If only they weren't so timid about their feelings...

"She's right, InuYasha. I'd much rather kill the bastard in the ring."

"Who're they talking about?" I asked in confusion.

"Who knows," Yari said with a shrug.

"And you aren't the slightest bit concerned that death threats are flying around?" Katrina asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, I'd be concerned if there weren't death threats in any conversation involving InuYasha."

"Tru-ue..." Rin sang with an impish grin. It's still hard to believe she was the little girl I'd met only a year ago...

"Yari's not gonna be happy to hear that he's in the tournament..." Kagome sighed. Said vixen cocked her head, becoming far more interested in eavesdropping in on the conversation.

"Understatement," Ganko snorted, not sounding too happy himself.

"And exactly why am I not happy?" Yari asked as the group came around the corner. Kagome yelped.

"Don't sneak up on us like that!!!!!!!!!!" She scolded, glaring at Yari.

"Who's here?"

"...ehehe... w-well..." InuYasha snorted at Kagome's stammering.

"Some arrogant jackass of a kitsune came and hit on Kagome," Kurama stiffened slightly and Yari raised an eyebrow.

"And this upsets me... why?" She asked in confusion.

"Because," Kagome sighed, "It was Shijin,"

**_"...WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"_** Shippo yipped from Kurama's shoulder, and everyone else stared at Yari in complete shock. She'd never reacted so violently to a name... not even Reikoku's!!!

It was even more of a shock when Yari attempted to storm off in the direction Kagome and the other's had come from, a look of pure fury on her face.

"Yari!!! Calm down!!!" Yakuso said, attempting to hold her friend back. Botan and I tried to help.

"Not till he's dead," Yari growled, straining against us to go after whoever this guy was.

"And how are you going to accomplish that? You don't even have a weapon!!!" Botan exclaimed.

"I have my claws, and that's enough for me..." Desperately, I cast around for some kind of idea to stop her. Suddenly, it came to me.

"Maybe so, but if you put yourself in danger, you're putting your child in danger as well!!! Do you really want revenge so badly, you'd hurt your unborn baby?!" That got Yari to stop. Kagome shot me a grateful look.

"Relax, Yari. He won't cause you any trouble, considering you aren't technically a threat to him right now," she soothed the pregnant youkai. Yari didn't look too happy, but she did back off.

"I take it you guys don't like this Shijin guy too much?" Yusuke asked, frowning at Yari's clenched fist. Kagome sighed.

"Well, technically, Father planned on him being my betrothed for a good long while before I left. As far as I know, nothing was ever made official, but still, it may as well have been, from his attitude. He Yari and Ganko weren't too... friendly with one another."

"He didn't think a common street trash like me should have been allowed in a castle, and said I should leave and go back to a life of begging for food off the streets, destined to be a desperate whore instead of sullying the sight of the well bred youkai," Yari hissed, the fist she clenched now had several small rivers of blood running down it, dripping to the floor.

"And he said I shouldn't familiarize myself with someone as high up as a princess," Ganko said grimly. "He said that someone like Kagome should only associate with the best of the best, and I'd always be second compared to my brother," I gasped. How could anyone say such rude things? And Kagome was supposed to **_MARRY_** this guy?!?!?!

"You let him get away with saying that?!" Yusuke asked incredulously.

"What else could we do? If we attacked him, we would've lost everything we had, including possibly our lives. Kagome kept him in line the best she could but..." Yari hesitated, casting the royal kitsune an uncertain glance. Kagome smiled ruefully.

"But I... I never enjoyed Shijin's... company very much." She sighed, "Actually, that's an understatement. I just plain despised him." I winced sympathetically at the poor girl. No matter how many times youkai cultures confused me, there were some times I just didn't WANT to get them. All this stuff about forced mating and females obediently following their mates... It seemed so barbaric for such sophisticated creatures as some of the Kitsunes I've met. But I suppose there are just some traditions people are too stubborn to let go of.

"Well, that's all in the past now!!!" Botan said cheerfully. "Let's go back to the hotel room... Sesshomaru had a message delivered to you, didn't he, Yakuso?" I watched Kagome as we started towards the hotel. She was lost in thought, and Sango kept giving her concerned looks.

Then, my eyes landed on Kurama. He, too, seemed preoccupied. If the way his eyes flashed from green to gold was any sort of hint, it was his other half currently taking up his attention. Any idiot could see were he stood on all of this. Having so many people after the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with was probably not a pleasant experience.

The though of love turned my attention to Yusuke. He was talking with Hiei about something I couldn't hear, but the look on his face told me it was serious.

It's strange. I understand Yusuke's personality better than almost everyone else... but I still couldn't understand him. Then again, no one could. Heck, _he _probably didn't know why he did half the stuff he did. That's what made him so special. He never tries to con or trick anybody, he never even really goes after anything in particular. He was just... Yusuke. There was no other way to put it. He was one of a kind, and I loved him for it.

"Are you alright?" I blinked and glanced at Kireishi as she gave me a worried look. I smiled brightly at her.

"Fine. Just lost in thought, I guess," I said. For a girl who was the half sister of the greatest thief in the Makai, she seemed really friendly and timid. Not to mention really-

'crash!'

-clumsy.

"Oh!!! I'm so sorry!!!!!!!" She bent down to help pick up the dishes that she had accidentally knocked out of a passing maid. Kat shook her head and leaned over to help her, and Katrina swiftly took some spare towels to mop up some of the spilled liquids. "I didn't mean to!!!! Here, let me-!!!"

"It's fine, Miss," the maid said, nervously glancing at Kagome, "I'll clean it up. Please go about your business."

"Are you sure?" Kireishi asked hesitantly, obviously slightly guilt ridden over the small mess.

"I'm used to it, Milady. Don't concern yourself over me,"

"I don't mind helping..." Kireishi persisted.

"I'll be fine. I'm sure you have better things to be doing, my lady?"

"Well..."

"Come on, kid," Kat said, dragging Kireishi away from the mess. "It'll be fine! Lighten up a little,"

"Well she's got a lot of energy," Katrina muttered to Botan in amusement.

"Yes... So, do you boys know who your facing tomorrow?"

"Who cares?" Yusuke asked, disinterested.

"You should. Don't you want to make it through the tournament with your life?" I scolded.

"Well it's not like I haven't been in tournaments before..."

"Team Ijiwaru," Kurama cut in before I could scold Yusuke some more." Sango frowned.

"I've heard of them... they're a powerful group of normally rouge demons. Some say they could defeat the taiyoukai."

"Well there's a pleasant team to start against." Botan said dryly.

"They consist most of males, but there is one female in the group. She's a friend of the leader, and seems to be their best fighter. Two of the males are spirit apparitions, One is half spirit half fire and the female is a elemental kitsune. They range from middle B to high A class demons. The leader's name is Petenshi and he's an oddity, but seems like he's alright. His favorite food is menrui and he's got a major problem with toads. Like Sango said, they're usually rouges, but it seems they made a team because they wanted to test their strength in this tournament," Katrina recited easily. "Koenma had me look in on 'em for a while,"

"You're good," Yusuke said, obviously impressed.

"You have to be to survive in my line of business," Katrina responded. "You don't know how many spies are killed..."

"I've been wondering about that, Katrina," Yakuso cut in with a curious frown, "Why are you a Reikai spy? Don't you have a family in the Kingdom?" Katrina shook her head.

"both of my parents are dead, and I have no brothers or sisters,"

"Oh? I apologize..." Yakuso said with a guilty flush. Katrina smiled.

"It's okay. So, how did you come to be Lady of the Western Lands, anyways?" Yakuso smiled and Rin shook her head.

"After twenty years of fail matchmaking plans by me and anyone I could rope into helping me is how," She answered for Yakuso, "I had almost given up hope..."

"I'm afraid Neither Sesshomaru or I were really the social types." Yakuso said with a playful glare at Rin. "So it took us a while to start speaking to each other in close terms. But everything ended up working out,"

"Now all I need is a little brother so I don't have to become the next Taiyoukai,"

"RIN!!!" Kagome laughed as Yakuso yelled a warning at her surrogated daughter.

"Believe me, Rin, I know that feeling," she said.

"We'd better get back to our room," Kat said, frowning at a large clock. "We've got to prepare for tomorrow... It was nice meeting all of you,"

"Same here!!!" Botan said brightly at the demoness waved one last time and took her leave.

"Mama, you won't mind if I go into the city for a while, do you? I've been meaning to buy some new... ah, casual wear?" Yakuso's eyebrow went up.

"...Casual wear?"

"Yeah, you know... For when we don't have company or anything!"

"You mean for when you sneak out of the castle and pretend you're just an ordinary demoness."

"No! When have I ever done that?" Yakuso shot Kagome a dry look as she tried to contain her laugher. Yari and Ganko weren't doing much better.

"How about every time your father and I turn out backs?" the Lady of the West sighed. "Tell you what; if you can get at least three other people to come with you, you can go,"

"Really? Thanks, Mama!!!" Rin's face brightened considerably. She turned to Kagome with a puppy dog pout. "You'll go with me, right, Kaggy?" Kagome sihged.

"I don't know, Rin. I have a lot to think about right now, and I have to talk to mother and make sure she isn't plotting behind my back And I really don't want to..."

The puppy dog pout magnified, "...go somewhere so public dressed like this," Kagome sighed. "Alright, you win."

"Good thing you've got your brother to fall back on after all, Princess. The Kingdom would be in ruins in a day if a bleeding heart like you was Queen." Kagome glared at Ganko before smiling evilly at Rin.

"And as my royal guard and a loyal servant to the Queen, I'm sure Ganko would be more than happy to accompany us as a bag boy, Rin," I almost laughed at the horror on Ganko's face as the other boys winced in sympathy.

"I'll go, too," Kireishi offered, "I need some things, anyways,"

"I hope you ladies won't mind another escort?" Kurama said with a pointed smile at Kagome.

"Of course not!!!" Kagome answered, with a humorless smile, "As a matter of fact, I might need the back up if Shijin shows up again."

"GREAT!!!!" Rin said enthusiastically "Come on, Kaggy!!! I'll make you the PERFECT disguise!!!" She grabbed the kitsune's hand and dragged her into the women's restroom.

"We won't see them again until nine hours after curfew," Yari said with an amused smile. "Ah, well. Knowing Rin, she'll split from the others and Kurama and Kagome could use the time alone. Speaking of which, come on, Monk, we need to talk," Miroku winced.

"No pleasant conversation starts with those words," Yari rolled her eyes.

"Relax, holy man, I just need to talk to you about the baby,"

"Yes?"

"Well actually, a lot of things about the baby. Like the name for one, You promised to have one before it was born remember? Plus our plans for the room and hiring a nanny for when we're on duty and how we're going to pay the queen back for allowing me to take a maternity leave and still stay in the castle..."

"I knew no pleasant conversation started with We need to talk," Miroku muttered as the list went on and on.

"Well, have fun, you two!" Sango said pleasantly, "I'm going to train."

"That means you've gotta watch us, InuYasha," Souta said as the hanyou tried to slip away.

"Err..."

"Yeah!!! Come on, let's go back to Our room and play!!!"

"What?! Wouldn't you rather play somewhere with less breakables?!?!" the three children ignored him and took off for Kagome's Royal Suite. I bit back a laughed as InuYasha's puppy-dog ears drooped dejectedly.

"We'll help you, InuYasha!" Botan said cheerfully.

""...We?" Shizuru questioned.

"Of course!!! We don't have anything better to do..."

"I've got house chores to do," Shizuru quickly covered.

"I've got to contact Sesshomaru before he hurts Jaken." Yakuso announced, ignoring InuYasha when he muttered that the toad was better off dead anyways.

"I promised Genkai I'd come over every night and help her," Yukina said, though she actually sounded apologetic.

"I have to call my mother," I said in turn. Katrina shrugged as the attention landed on her.

"Why not? They seem like nice kids." There was a passing wave of sympathy for the new vixen. If only she knew...

I sighed as I hung up my cell phone. My call with mom went as expected. She asked me how the 'camping trip,' was going, teased me when I told her I was sharing a tent with Yusuke (I went red when she told me to 'protect myself because she didn't want grand children just yet,' and could've sworn I heard Yusuke snicker.) And gave me the news about the restaurant.

Apparently, business was slow, and mom hinted (Rather cautiously) that I might have to consider looking for money somewhere else, or else find a cheaper college.

"You okay?" I blinked and turned to look at Yusuke.

"Huh?"

"You look like your dog just died,"

"I'm fine." I said, blushing slightly.

"Bullshit,"

"You'll think it's stupid, Yusuke,"

"That didn't stop you from dragging me to those foreign films," I glared at him, "Seriously! Now tell me what's wrong before I tell Botan you offered to help her watch the munchkins next time she want to impress dog boy,"

"Yusuke!!!" I scolded. Then I sighed. Why not? "Mom just told me we don't have enough money for me to go to Tokyo University."

"I see..." Yusuke said thoughtfully. Next thing I knew, he was dragging me out the door.

"What the- Yusuke! Where are we-?!"

"The toddler's room,"

"Koenma? Why-?!"

"If he's got enough money to send me and the numbskull to Tokyo U, he's damn well got enough for you," I stared a Yusuke for a second, and then smiled. He was so sweet in his own, twisted little way.

Yusuke got to Koenma's door, and started banging at it.

"Just a second!!!" There was a small racket then the door opened to reveal a panting teenager with a pacifier. "Oh, it's just you, Yusuke. Can you make this fast. I have a meeting with a demon prince soon,"

"Whatever. Look here, Koenma, Keiko needs some money to get into Tokyo U."

"Done,"

"Don't give me any of- huh?"

"I'll have a scholarship in the mail by tomorrow. George can think of the details..."

"Just like that?" I asked, slightly surprised.

"Why not? You were the sole reason Yusuke was willing to do half of his missions, and besides, at least this way, Yusuke will actually attend his classes." I smiled at the prince of the Reikai.

"Thank you!!!"

"It's really no problem, now if you'l excuse me... Where did George leave that sake...?" I giggled as Koenma shut the door, mumbling to himself.

"That was easier than I expected." Yusuke muttered, blinking at the door.

"Yeah..." I smiled at him, "Come on!!! We'd better get back to the hotel room. You don't want to fall asleep during your first match... again."

"Haha." Yusuke said dryly as I started back to our room. "That was all Grandma's fault, anyways!!!"

"Riiight..." I said, rolling my eyes. "Oof!!!" I struggled to keep my balance after running straight into something. I looked up to meet icy blue eyes. Make that someone.

"Watch where you're going!!!"

A very irritable someone.

"Sorry," I said, backing up slightly. "I didn't see you- do I know you?" I cut myself off mid apology as soon ads I got a good look at the demon I'd run into. He looked eerily familiar...

"Wha? No!!! How could you? You're a human, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I could've sworn I've seen your face somewhere before." Yusuke was at my side now, glaring at the youkai distrustfully.

"Look here, buddy, Keiko's not- Damn, you do look familiar!" So, It wasn't just me... The youkai frowned at Yusuke before his eyes widened.

"You're that spirit detective, aren't you!!!"

"So what if I am?" Yusuke asked suspiciously. The youkai grinned.

"Gramps is gonna love to hear this... He always says I look just like he used to."

"Gramps?"

"I'm Inken. The great grandson of one of the greatest Kings our wolf Tribe has ever had, Kouga,"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...

QFF- DV, my dearest, sweetest most lovable cousin who I think of as a sister?

DV- Yes?

QFF- WHAT IN ALL THE HEAVENS AND HELLS WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

DV- Writing or bed.

QFF- 'growling.'

Inu- Kouga?! KOUGA?!?!?!

DV- Technically, It's Kouga's great grandson.

Inu- **KOUGA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!**

Chiisai- You're trying to see how many people you can get to kill you in the span of a week, aren't you?

DV- Not really, I'm just in a very playful mood.

Kagome- Well, how about taking it out on someone other than me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DV- Sorry u.u But you have my word things will get better!!!! n.n Maybe.

...

QFF- 'Maybe?!?!'

DV- Hehe...

'growling'

DV- Is this a bad time to mention the one shot I made?

QFF- I highly doubt it's good enough to make me spare your life, so why don't you shove it up your-

DV- It's in Ganko's POV, all about his childhood, army life and life right after Kagome's mom was recrowned.

QFF- 'goes from angry to happy in a nanosecond,' Ganko?!?!?!?!?!?!

DV- Speaking of which, the Ganko pic WILL be posted some time this week, if the computer doesn't crash on me... again.

QFF- Ganko! Ganko! Ganko!!!

Kurama- Please review before you leave, and come back for the next chapter, which I have received a promise from the authoress will have heavy romance.

DV- Promise? You blackmailed me!!!!!!

Kurama- 'smiling' See you next chapter!


	6. Kagayaki

'giggling' YAYNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fanfiction reviews;

inu-angel247 (I've taken three years of it. You have no idea how cool it is to be able to understand the macarana!!! I dunno, I just felt like it I guess! 'lol' just kidding!!! It's part of the plot. You'll see!!!)

FoxylilRaven ('lol' we'll see, and of course she does!!! 'Runs from Kagome's arrows,' Will do!!! Thanks for the review!!!)

Choas Babe (...?! Err, Sorry, you lost me.)

star's dreams (Too true... 'lol' don't worry, there's more to come!!!! Kurama;s got some girls to beat off, too!!!)

Shiva-SephyandSesshylover ('Lol' a fewof 'em won't be so bad. You'll see. Besides, If I didthat, then Kagome would be allowed to kill the upcoming Kurama would be mates, and it would turn into this giant blood fest.)

Why?What?Shutup (Isn't it? Thanks for the review!!!)

kireishi-chan (172?!?!?! O.O That had to have taken a while... yeah, the shopping trip is here. I would've had this chapter up earlier, but we had a family event on my dad's side (Think My Big Fat Greek Wedding, only Italian. That's wht it was like,) Hope to enjoy!!! I only got two reviews for that!!! TT)

Chinadoll27 (Thank you!!! Will do!!!!!!!!!!)

blackestheart (Sure. Just make sure to give credit, okay? Actually, I'd love to see what someone else could do with him!!!)

Sanaka ('lol' same here. Big families mean lotsa kids, and all of them end up clinging to my legs P Dunno, to tell you the truth, I've lost count. My levels of sanity are already in the negatives. Dad's German speaking trout with the goatee told me so yesterday.)

Schon der Februar die Frau (You're welcome!!!Katrina's a fun character to work with!!! Actually, I was wondering if you'd let me keep her around in the college chapters.)

Fallen-666-Angel (Lol Yeah, it's gonna be a bit of a challenge to write, but it should definately be fun. 'smacks Fallen's hands away from Ganko' Bad! Anyways, You're gonna hafta talk to Kireishi about that. Actually, I no longer bother keeping count. Some of 'em are scary, though,)

SunStar Kitsune (...lemon?!?! QFF- THERE'S AN IDEA!!! DV- 'smacks QFF' You shut up. No, no lemon. If alot of people want one, I might give it a shot for mediaminer or something (I've already been kicked off for breaking one of thier stupid rules,) but only if alot of people want one. I haven't tried one yet, so I'm kinda hesitant to give it a shot,)

Somora Seishuku (Thank you!!! I'm glad you like 'em!!!)

DragondemonessofAmerica (Lol. Thanks!!! No fighting this chapter, and I'm afraid my POVs are stuck in a cycle now (Kagome/Kurama/Sango/Keiko. Kurama's the only boy. ;) So Kurama's next chappie. Sorry If I confuse you!!!)

sacaku (Thank you!!!! It's always great to hear praise!!!)

Inubabe666 (I'm good at that, aren't I?)

Mediaminer;

RabidFangirl101 (Thank you!!! True, but some reviewers are really sneaky!!! TT)

snowecat (I'm in such a hurry, I don't have time to go over my fics too much, and Queenie's horrible with writing. If you're interested, I'd like for you to beta read for me. Email me if you are ))

Inubunny (lol. Here's my update!!! My plans for the couples are infinate! (And mostly evil) and who could forget the love? Other than Queenie, who's heartless. QFF- HEY!!!)

Luscious (Yep!!! They'll meet next chappy. Me too!!!!! All the guys in my school are assholes, though. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!)

tbiris (Me, too. My brothers complain about me hogging the computer. Of course, they never actually have a valid reason to be on, the jerks...)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DV- WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chiisai- Okay, I'm not letting you have anything edible Queenoffanfiction13 made ever again.

DV-WHYNOOOOOOOOT?!?!?!HEYYOUKNOWWHAT?!?!?!ILIKEKITTIES!!!DOYOULIKEKITTIES?!?!HOWCOMEYOU'REALWAYSSOMEANTOME?!WHYISTHESKYBLUE?!?!WHEREDOBABIESCOMEFROM?!?!?!WHYISYOU'RENOSESOBIG?!?!?!DOYOUHAVEANYSUGAR?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Chiisai- NO I DO NOT HAVE ANY SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ 'glares at QFF'_ I swear I'll kill you for this.

QFF- Why? I think she's funny this way!!!

Kagome- well you're all alone there. _'watching DV literally bouncing off the walls, though all that can be seen is a black and violet blur,'_

Yusuke- God, I never want to see a kitsune on a sugar high ever again.

Botan- What did you put in that drink, Queenie?"

QFF- Sugar, chocolate, sugar, Coke, sugar, Pepsi, sugar, coffee cream, sugar, caffeine pills, sugar, vanilla and sugar

Kurama- You said sugar seven times

QFF- I added a lot of sugar

Everyone except DV & QFF- o.o;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

DV-

QFF- Anywho, the hyped up DV doesn't own anyone outside of her OCs, finally got the Ganko pic up (YAY!) and hopes you enjoy this chapter.

------------------------------------------------Kagayaki------------------------------------------------

.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0 Kagome0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.

"Are you almost done, Rin?" I asked as the inu princess hovered over me with a ribbon and a flower clip. I was almost afraid to see what she did to me, since all she said was that 'Even you won't recognize yourself!!!'

"Just a sec..." She said, still fussing with my hair and make up. "aaaaaand... Done!" She pulled me out of the bathroom stall and maneuvered me so I was right in front of the mirror. "What do ya think?"

"I look... wow..."

Rin had dressed me in a black triangular skirt that tied at me right hip. It only reached about mid thigh on my right hip, but it covered everything... barely, but still...

She'd also put me in a triangle shaped half top that tied in the back, and was pretty much the same, only it was a dark red color and had a silver design in the middle, almost like an elaborate flower.

My normal sandals had been taken away, and replaced with black Greek styled ones. The silk cords wrapped around my legs and tied right under my knees.

My hair had been pulled back, and done up in an thorough, but sturdy bun sort of thing with a red ribbon weaving it's way in and out, and had a silver flowery clip right above my left ear. (Which had been made to look like a pointed human ears.)

She'd covered my facial markings with a bit of cover up, then painted a silvery lipstick on my lips, and red eye shadow on my eyelids. She then had taken some black eyeliner and gave me an Eye of Horace sort of thing.

I did look good, and she was right about no one being able to recognize me. Not if I covered my scent and altered my eyes and tail a little, anyways. But still, I wasn't used to wearing such provocative clothes... excluding my middle school skirt, of course. And even THAT wasn't as revealing as this!

"Told ya!!!" Rin said triumphantly, there was a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Well, we'd better get going before Ganko tries to sneak off."

"Aren't you going to change?" I asked. Rin was, after all, a well recognized woman in the Makai. And the Western Land was a well-known and exclusive territory.

"Nah," Rin said pushing me towards the door, "I've been pretty safe ever since Papa personally dealt with a kidnapping attempt when I was 200." I flinched, slightly sympathetic for whoever the 'kidnapper' was.

"Lady and Gentlemen, introducing the new Kagome!!!!" Rin said as she threw the door open. I stepped out, slightly embarrassed. Kireishi, Ganko and Kurama all stared at me, wide-eyed and unblinking. "Well?!?!?!"

::Ask her where she got that skirt. You'll be needing a few more:: Youko said eagerly to me.

((YOUKO!!!!!!!!!)) I couldn't help it. I giggled as Kurama lectured his... less decent half.

"Well," Kireishi said with a bright smile, "I think she looks nice,"

"The old man would have a heart attack if he could see you now," Ganko snickered. I glared at him half-heartedly.

"Just because Jii-chan is a little old fashion-!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ganko said, waving a hand, "You've given me this lecture before! Now lets get going before some of our competitors see me playing bag boy for a couple of crazy princesses." I rolled my eyes.

"You know, Ganko, It's very possible that you might have to watch Shippo after someone 'accidentally' slipped him the twelve boxes of chocolate pocky they snuck past the royal inspectors." Ganko flinched and Kireishi bit back a giggle.

"Are we done threatening cruel and unusual torture yet?!" Rin asked impatiently, "I wanna get some shopping done!!!!!!!!" I shook my head in exasperation. Sometimes I don't know how Sesshomaru and Yakuso did it...

Half an hour later, We were standing at the entrance to a youkai city. Rin's eyes were sparkling in a way that had Kireishi and I exchanging apprehensive glances as the boys glared daggers at the males that were leering at the three of us. The less daring (or the smarter, depending on your view point in the matter.) looked away quickly. No doubt they recognized Kurama from the spirit detectives, and no one was especially eager to mess with Shadow Kitsunes, especially a Commanding Officer of the armies.

"Ooh!!! Look at this!!!" Rin said, grabbing me and Kireishi and pulling us towards a window display, "This is such a cute kimono!!! I bet it would really look good on you, Kireishi!!! And look at those shoes!!! And that Top!! That would really bring out your eyes, Kaggy. Oh!! How much do you think that silver armor goes for?"

"Good Gods, what have we gotten ourselves into," Ganko groaned as he and Kurama trotted over.

::What's his problem?:: Youko asked, unconcerned. I felt the corner of my lip twitch.

**You have no problems with being forced to follow three girls on a shopping trip and carry their bags?**

::Not if I get to see you try outfits on!!!:: Youko said cheerfully I exchanged amused glances with Kurama.

**I'm not sure if I should be flattered or embarrassed.** I said playfully.

((I think you'd be less indecisive if you could see some of the images Youko has running through our head.)) I giggled and took his hand. I felt so relaxed playing with and teasing him like this. Even with all the stuff that was happening, with all the stress I've felt recently, all it took was one of the statements I was now so used to hearing from Kurama and Youko to get me laughing and fooling around.

'ggrrr...' Everyone stopped to look at Ganko, who laughed sheepishly.

"Forgot to eat breakfast today..." I rolled my eyes and knocked my fist lightly against his head.

"Baka," I said, "Come on, we'd better stop for lunch if we don't want to spend the next few hours listening to Ganko's whining."

"Hey, you're the cow in the group!!!!" I glared at him. That little-!

"Kagome?" Startled, I turned, not missing Ganko's sigh of relief. Of course he was on guard again when I greeted the distraction.

"Oh, Kaigan!I wasn't expecting to see you here..." How did he always know it was me even when I was in disguise?!?! Kaigan laughed ran a hand through his hair.

"I kind of ruined one of my outfits training, and came down here to have it mended before mother found out and beheaded me for it," he said casually.

"I'm sure Queen Jinzai would be more understanding than that..." I said shaking my head.

"Are you kidding? She threatened to disown me for accidentally breaking some antique vase My great grandmother got from the Amazonian Queen nine hundred years ago!"

"I thought you told her the Kouma Prince did that trying to impress the youngest Kumo Princess?" I said cocking my head.

"Got found out," Kaigan said with a wince. "Not my fondest memory..."

"I could imagine," Ganko cut in coldly. Kaigan frowned at him, and I mentally sighed. Here we go again...

"Ganko. Long time no see. I hear you've been promoted?" Kaigan asked with a cold politeness.

"Leading General," Ganko said shortly.

"Ah. Congratulations," Kaigan said just as shortly, and his voice lacked any emotion that made his praise seem sincere. "Anyways, Why are you here, Kagome? Sneaking away again?"

"Didn't we agree that never happened?" I said, pouting. Kaigan chuckled.

"Yes, just like we agreed that Lady Genkai's favorite fighting kimono must've been lost by a bumbling servant..."

"Hey, THAT one wasn't my fault!!!!! Not completely, anyways."

"I'm sure Genkai wouldn't be very angry with you if she did find out the truth," Kurama said, wrapping one arm around my waist. I mentally sighed when I saw the look Kaigan gave him. Crap...

"Ah, you must be Youko Kurama. I've heard to you," Kaigan said in that forced polite tone. "They say you're one Hell of a thief," Kurama nodded, his eyes tinting gold. Double crap.

"And you're Prince Kaigan, are you not? Ganko has told me about you..."

"Has he?" I was getting more and more uncomfortable with every ice laced word. Mentally sighing, I decided to end this before it escalated into something I really didn't need right now. My decision was finalized when I heard Youko listing all, the places they could go for to get a quick kill. Scary thing was, Kurama was listening.

"Ah, but you two haven't had a formal introduction yet, have you?" I cut in, stopping both males. "Kaigan, this is Kurama, my boyfriend. Kurama, this is Kaigan, a friend of mine from when I was young." I gave both of them a pointed look with their introduction that had them wincing and backing down. Men...

"Anyways, It was nice seeing you again, Kagome. Your team did great in the first match!!! See you around!!!" Kaigan said with a bright smile. "Oh, and nice meeting you, Kurama." And with that he turned and walked away. Youko growled in Kurama's mind.

::He dares turn his back on us? Like we're no threat?! I'll enjoy tearing his spine out and forcing his still beating heart down his throat...:: I visibly winced at the threat.

**Oh, no you won't!!! Kaigan is my FRIEND, Youko.**

::Hmph!::

**Kurama, could you please talk some sense into your other half?**

((Actually, I agree with him on this,)) the red head stated, glaring at Kaigan's retreating form. I mentally sighed and took his hand.

**Relax. You two are acting like Yusuke or Inuyasha would in this kind of situation.** As predicted, Youko stiffened at being compared to our more rash companions.** I'm not going to run off with him, okay? He's just a friend I haven't seen in a long time.** I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, **I'd rather be with you any day.**

::See that you don't forget it!!!:: Youko growled possessively.

"Come on," I said out loud, "let's go and- Where's Rin?!" There was an instant of silence as everyone realized the princess had used the tense moment to escape.

"Wait, I think I see her over there!!!" Kireishi said, rushing to catch up with the inu. Ganko took off after her.

"Hey!!! Damn it, don't run off by yourself around here, it could get you killed!!!!" Kurama and I stood there, bemused as the two of them took off. Our amusement grew at the cry of "Hey, watch out, you're gonna hit that-!"

"Oof!!!"

'CRASH!!!' I giggled as Kurama shook his head in exasperated amusement.

"Come on, Ganko can watch Kireishi and Rin is more than capable of looking after herself. I say we go out on our own," I said, tugging at his sleeve. He followed without protest, seemingly locked in a private conversation with his other half.

"So, how about we check out the clothes? I like Makai fashion better than Ningenkai," I said, smiling at the red head next to me. "I promise to let you see everything I try on!!!"

::Really? By any chance will you be shopping for lingerie?:: I sent the spirit kitsune a dry look. He sighed audibly, ::Ah, well. It was worth a shot,::

**Hentai,**

((He's the one who suggested it, not me,)) Kurama defended himself.

**I know,** I said, pecking him on the cheek. **But you weren't protesting.** Kurama gave me an innocent look, but said nothing. I shook my head in exasperation.

The rest of the day was really fun. I shopped for clothes and got Kurama's opinion on them, we took a little walk through a Makai garden, Kurama keeping all the more dangerous plants from attacking, since his floral expertise was greater than mine, and Kurama bought me a beautiful knife, with a promise of teaching me how to use it.

I did see Bukkako in one of the shops, but decided he was there for his brother's petty needs when I saw the piles of fancy kimonos he was buying. Shijin never did his own shopping, preferring to just send his brother. Considering that Bukkako never even looked in our direction, I figured the kimonos were the only reason he was there, not to act as Shijin's spy, and that he either didn't recognize us or didn't care that we were there.

So I was in a really good mood when I remembered a servant had taken a vacation to this area once, and came back branishing a beautiful ring...

"Come on. I've heard of a place nearby from one of the servants. It's supposed to have incredible jewelry. Though I've heard the youkai in charge of the shop is a little strange..."

"Lead the way," Kurama said with a charming smile.

**Oh, and Youko?**

::Yes?::

**No stealing.**

::Spoilsport.:: Kurama sighed in exasperation as his other half pouted childishly.

When we arrived at the place, It definitely looked weird. It was a tiny place, a small, one story building that couldn't have had more than two rooms. It was dingy, too, standing out against all the newer looking buildings around it.

::Look at this place! It looks older than the Makai!!!:: Youko said in disgust. ::Are you sure a famous jeweler lives here, Kagome?::

"Well, that's what Sainan said," I frowned at the building, trying to peer through the grime coated window. A little doubtful, I knocked on the door.

"Yes, yes, hold on!!!" A voice inside snapped. The door swung open to reveal a tiny owl-like youkai, with a long beard nearly touching the ground and enormous, thick-rimmed glasses. "Eh? You two, huh? It's about time you got here!!!"

...

"I... beg your pardon?" I asked, a little confused. Kurama turned and frowned sharply at me.

((What?))

**I just now remembered this place and decided to come here. And considering no one can read my mind unless I project a thought to them, and you'd feel it the instant someone entered you mind, he should have no idea we were coming.**

"Well, don't just stand there looking like fools, you're letting the mosquitoes in!!!" He pushed both of us inside, and we were too confused to argue.

"Excuse me but how-!" I stopped dead in the middle of my question, gaping around me.

All around me were revolving round tables that had jewelry piece after jewelry piece on them, all sparkling under the protective glass that kept wandering hands off of them. This really wasn't surprising, considering this WAS a jeweler, but the room stretched out for a good mile, and a staircase wove around, leading up to another room above us with a glass floor, so I could see even more tables above us. And above that... and above that...

"Well? Don't dawdle, we have very important business to attend to!!!" the owl said, grabbing my arm and pulling me further into the room.

"Do we?" Kurama asked evenly. As a matter of fact, If I haven't known him so long on such an intimate level, I would've missed the agitation he was giving off at not knowing what was going on. And perhaps the fact that the old man was dragging me around like he was.

"Of course!" the old man said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Very important! And naturally I've been waiting so long..."

"What? How long have you been waiting?" I asked, pulling my hand free and resting it on Kurama's arm, still following the elderly youkai as he led us past rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets. I was hoping the familiarity would help me cope with the confusion.

"Hm? Oh, let's see... 297 years, 165 days, 19 hours, 47 minutes and 23 seconds." The owl rattled off.

"That's certainly specific." Kurama said, his eyes going a little wider.

::Hell, _I_ was a toddler back then!!! And you two weren't even _born_!!!::

"Well, yes!!! It's been my job to wait for you ever since my master retired!!!" The old man said grumpily. "And I must say, you two took your sweet time!!! Young people today..."

"Well, excuse me, Mr....?"

"Hosekisho Kara Idai Yogen. Please just call me Yogen-san,"

"Err, right," I said, blinking, "Yogen-san, how did you know-?"

"That you were coming?" Yogen finished for me. "I told you, I've been waiting for you for almost three hundred years."

"But we didn't even know we'd come here until a few minutes ago," I said, frowning.

"Whether or not you knew wasn't an issue, I knew before you were even born that you'd come to my doorstep someday, and I know why you are here."

"I see..." Kurama said, putting a hand on mine. "Predestination, then,"

"You might say that," Yogen said with a shrug.

"But how do you-!"

"Know you are the right people? My dear, do you honestly believe I wouldn't recognize you souls as soon as you knocked on my door? Besides, It's not like there are many other princesses traveling around with thieves now, are there?"

"No, I suppose not," I said, still a little confused. What could we possibly need from this man? And why did he have the power of future-sight? He was just a jeweler after all, right? Wait a sec-! "How did you-?!"

"Know you were a princess?" He said, finally stopping us as we reached some sort of counter with a door behind it. The old man opened the door and went in, rummaging through some things, and sometimes throwing things out that bounced off the floor and rolled to our feet. Most seemed to be precious stones.

**That gets really irritating reeeally fast,** I said in a dry tone.

"I told you, I can feel it in your souls that you are the ones destined for the Kagayakis." I was told ahead of time that you'd be a princess and a thief by someone who's never wrong about those sort of things... likes to rub it in, too... so I naturally knew that since your souls were the correct ones-!"

"That we had to be what that person said we were!" I finished, with a slight sigh of relief that Rin's disguise truly was foolproof against other people. Not counting Kaigan, who somehow always could see through my disguises.

"Don't interrupt, Dear, It's rude. Now, where did I put it..."

"What is a Kagayaki?" Kurama asked before I could smack the old man, a slight smile on his face told me he knew what I was planning on doing, too.

**You're worst than Sango,** I said with a dark glare.

((If we couldn't hurt Kaigan, then we won't allow you to hurt this old man,)) Kurama said in a diplomatic tone.

**Hey, that's different! Kaigan was a friend. This guy's just annoying.**

"Ah! Here we are... No clue," Kurama and I stared at the old man as he exited the room, a bejeweled key held out proudly before him.

"So, you want to give us something when you don't know what it does?!" I asked incredulously.

"Safety precautions, my dear. Those who knew about it knew so little, it could never make an interesting story. Besides, you two are supposed to figure out what they do. Don't kitsunes have a love for puzzles and secrets and such?"

"Yes," Kurama said with a frown, "But it's usually better to have more knowledge of a puzzle before you start toying with them. Such a careless nature could end your life,"

"Well, then, get more knowledge!!!" the old man said, "Right this way, don't dally about!!!!"

**Now can I hit him? **I asked the clearly irritated thief.

::Wait until he says something else worth hitting him for,:: Youko said, eyeing the man distastefully, ::Senile old fool...:: I giggled.

"Well, here we go!!!" The old man said, stopping in front of an enormous vault door. He turned the combination and pulled it open, to reveal another door. Kurama and I blinked as he started pressing the risen stones on the door in a particular order. Then, that door opened to reveal another door. Now we sweat dropped as the old man tapped the door in three different places with the key, making it slide down to reveal ANOTHER door.

"Isn't this a bit... excessive?" I questioned as he pulled about ten pegs out of this door, so it crumbled to leave another wall standing firm behind it.

"Can't be too careful!" Yogen said with a sharp nod, putting the key into the lock on this door, and turning it to reveal a small chest with four more locks on it.

::He obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. I could break through all these pathetic security measures in a heartbeat!:: Youko snorted, muttering about petty fools and inadequate precautions. I shook my head as the old owl snapped the last lock off.

"I was starting to think I'd never get to see this... Sei'i? SEI'I!!!!"

"Coming!!!" another voice answered. Into the room stumbled a little neko boy. "Yes, Yogen-sensei?"

"Ah, there you are. Sei'i, Meet the two Kagayaki's holders. I was just about to open this ol' thing," Sei'i blinked, then his eyes widened.

"But, sir! Did you remember to-!" The chest was opened, and a silver light shot at my throat, knocking me to the ground.

"KAGOME!!!!!!" Kurama yelled. In the next instant, a rose was in his hand, and he turned to Yogen again when a gold light shot at his throat. I was afraid at first, but then I realized that the light hadn't done anything to me other than knock me off my feet.

"I'm okay," I called over to Kurama, getting back on my feet and walking over to him, putting on hand on his back and watching him in concern as he got up, too. A quick, reassuring smile told me he was fine, so I decided to do something I'd been wanting to do for quite a while...

'whack!'

"Hey!!!" I glared furiously at the old owl as he rubbed the bump on his head.

"You lousy- what the heck was that?!?!?!"

"The Kagayakis, of course!" Yogen said, protecting his head from more blows as he saw that that wasn't enough of an explanation to calm me down.

"Please, Miss," Sei'i said, grabbing my hand as I lifted it to hit Yogen again. "Allow me to apologize and explain- My master is an incredible jeweler, but he tends to be vague.."

"No kidding," I said dryly.

"My name is Sei'i. I am master Yogen's apprentice." He said with a pleasant smile.

"I'm Kagome," I was still a little wary of these two. What was that light?

"Youko Kurama, and before we begin, can I ask you a question?" Sei'i brightly smiled at Kurama.

"Of course, Kurama-san!"

"Could you remove your hands from my intended mate?"

::Before we remove them FOR him.:: Youko added touchily.

"...Ah! Gomen nasi!!!!!!!" Sei'i said hastily, letting go of my wrist like he'd been burned and stumbling back, bowing and apologizing vigorously. I shook my head and returned my hand to it's former resting place on Kurama's arm, noting the odd feeling I was getting from him now.

"It's alright. Now, our explanation?"

**You didn't have to threaten the poor boy like that you know.**

((I didn't threaten him!))

::Out loud, anyways,::

**The look you were giving him was threat enough. **I said wryly.

::We should be the only ones allowed to touch you in such an intimate way.:: Youko firmly stated. I rolled my eyes. Men...

"Of course, Kagome-san. It's about a prophesy handed down in here for the last 10,000 years. There was a great, enormous youkai whose name has been lost to time. (And Yogen's horrid memory, no doubt,) He was a powerful magician and a ruthless killer who no one dared to cross, but everyone found his love of jewels to be odd, to say the least.

"One day, he demanded all the best youkai jewelers come to the castle, to live under his roof. He provided them with food, clothes and shelter, and they in turn, produced magnificent jewelry for him. If one ever displeased him, he'd kill them horribly, and have them replaced.

"But what he didn't see for a while was that his own mate, a beautiful, powerful and kind youkai who was the daughter of a minor lord until she was kidnapped and forced to become his queen, and his best jeweler were becoming quite fond of each other. When he did notice, at first he didn't mind too much. His queen was kinder to him now, and his jeweler produced even more magnificent gems for him.

"Then, he grew suspicious. His queen spent more time with the jeweler than him. Surely they hadn't fallen in love? He watched them carefully for a few days, them being completely unaware of the prying eyes. Although they hadn't so much as kissed, the longing, tender gazes and the lingering hands did not escape the youkai's attention, and he became furious that the lady he loved would refuse her heart to him, and instead give it to a mere common youkai.

"He immediately set out to kill the jeweler, but the queen caught wind of it and, afraid for her lover, quickly left with the jeweler, hoping to find freedom somewhere else.

"Alas, freedom escaped the doomed couple, for the youkai tracked them, intent on taking his fury out on the jeweler and bringing his mate back. Other youkai feared his wrath, and refused to take the desperate couple in. Hunted, with nowhere to go, The two made their way to Hajime," I stiffened at my first incarnation's name.

"The First Miko?" Kurama asked in surprise.

"Who else? Hajime took pity on them, and allowed them to stay with her."

I gasped as a strange power reacted at the name, my feet going out underneath me. I would've hit the ground, if a frantic Kurama hadn't caught me.

"Kagome?!?!?! KAGOME!!!!!!!!"

"She'll be fine," Yogen said, "Now, Hajime-!"

"What happened to her?!?!?!" Kurama demanded, not bothering to hide his anger.

"It will be explained soon, Kurama-san. Rest assured that Kagome-san was not harmed." Sei'i said soothingly. I nodded, waiting for my heart to slow down. The only thing that had startled me was feeling that unfamiliar, foreign power in my body.

"I'm okay. Shock was all," I said, my voice wavering slightly. What was that?! Kurama hesitated, but let me go, turning back to the two jeweler, a hard look on his face.

"Continue." He demanded.

"Yes well, Hajime protected them from all the servants the youkai magician sent to retrieve the queen. It got to the point were the magician decided to attack personally, in the most fearsome battle a youkai has ever waged against a priestess- not counting Midoriko's final battle and the last fight for the Shikon no Tama, of course- and it looked grim for the lovers for quite some time. The magician broke past the miko when her guard was down, and attempted to attack the jeweler, but he and the Queen had a plan.

"The jeweler had created two separate necklaces at the Queens pleading, and when the miko was distracted, she used a part of the miko's magic to create a spell for the necklaces, to ensure that she and her lover could never be separated. Sadly, miko magic is a complex thing, and while the spell worked, It wasn't the way the queen had planned.

"The spell trapped both of the demons in the necklaces, called Kagayakis. Furious at the loss of his revenge and the Queen he desired, the youkai fled before the miko could slay him. The miko was sad about the tragic end of the star crossed lovers, and was going to keep them together in her home, when a prophesy came to her.

"_Be warned, Great One, The tale of this demonic pair hath not reached it's end. For they have still a task to face, and troubled hearts to mend. In the time of many years, two more this tyrant shall face, and their fate shall most depend on you, and the next decision you make. For shall they lose this battle, A terrible future will come. The great shall fall, the weak shall suffer, and another lady shall lose her beloved one. For another evil comes, you see, this one greater than the last. And in it's wake shall be destroyed the humans and demons vast. So choose careful, Wise One, what destiny shall befall these lovers? For the decision you make will affect you in life other..._"

::And what does this have to do with us?!?!:: Youko demanded stiffly.

**Affect you in life other... reincarnation! Shoot, _We're_ the one's the prophesy was talking about!!! **The power surged again, and I winced slightly at the oddity of it.

"So, what did Hajime do?" Kurama asked evenly, his grip on my arm tightening. I gave him a curious look.

"She gave the Kagayakis to my master's master, along with the ability to tell who the prophecy spoke of. Then, she sent the Shikon no Tama into the future to enter her reincarnation's body, in hopes of aiding the fight further. The necklaces, and the sense, were passed from Master to apprentice until now." Yogen explained knowledgeably.

"So, we are the ones foretold in the prophecy..." Kurama said softly.

"Yes. And the reason Kagome was so startled-!"

"That power... It's what's supposed to help us, isn't it?!"

"That is the power of the queen from my story. She will be aiding you with it now. And the jewel maker will aid you, Kurama-san." Kurama frowned, touching the gold chain around his neck lightly.

"Well that said, I'm hungry!!!" Yogen said enthusiastically, pushing me and Kurama towards the door, "Don't hesitate to come back if you have any questions. My door's always open. Have fun saving the world!!!" Kurama and I stood there for a while after the door had been closed behind us.

"Well... that was odd."

::To put it lightly.::

"We'd better get back to the hotel. It's starting to get late, and we all have training to do tomorrow." I blinked when Kurama stopped me.

"Aren't you worried? If that prophesy is correct, you could have a bleak future." I smiled gently at Kurama's tone. Was that what was bothering him?

"I'm fine, Kurama. I know you'll protect me from anything. I trust you." I touched his cheek, giving him a serious look. "I will never leave you. And I know to won't leave me, either." Kurama smiled, capturing my hand and pulling me closer.

"True enough..." I rolled my eyes, before Kurama began to kiss me.

It's strange... a whole year, and my heart still races when he does this. Every time, it leaves me craving for him to kiss me again. I could never get tired to this, or of my handsome thief. That, more than anything, was why I believed I couldn't live without him. I needed him too much, I loved him too much,, for me to ever think about abandoning our relationship. And I could tell, by the way he held me and the looks he gave me when we were alone, that he felt the same...

"Do you have to do that in public?"

Ah, the great mood-breaker himself.

"Ganko. I'm going to kill you slowly, convince Sesshomaru to bring you back to life, then force you to serve Kuwabara for the rest of your short, embarrassing life before I kill you again in an even more painful way." I said, glaring at the jerk. Kireishi giggled next to him.

"Yeah, yeah. Are we going back to the hotel? Yakuso says she's buying dinner." I growled.

"Jerk." I sniffed, grabbing Kurama's hand and starting back towards the hotel. I glared at my boyfriend as he started to chuckle, but my glare turned on my as he put his arm around my waist.

Yes, Kurama was the only one for me...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QFF- 'sweat drop.' Hehe... Ganko's really got a thing for interrupting kisses....

DV- 'groan'

Shippo- Is she okay? 'pokes DV with stick.'

QFF- Caffeine crash.

Kagome- Yikes...

DV- Worse. I'm a Hypoglycemic.

Yusuke- Err... Bless you?

Keiko- It means she has low blood sugar, you baka!!!

DV- I had another pass out thing in school today, and the doctors figured out they're not heat strokes at all, but Hypoglycemia attacks from eating too little. Now I have to follow some stupid diet...

Kagome- Ouch...

DV- 'Sigh' And the worst part is...

Everyone- 'leans forward, worriedly'

DV- 'tearing up' I CAN'T HAVE CAFFEINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone- 'anime fall'

Botan- Err... r-right... Well, don't forget to review, people!!!!!!!!

Shippo- Ja ne!!!!!!!!!!


	7. Oo

'puts on armor and take out heavy artillery' I'd like to remind everyone that killing me will not complete the story!!!

Fanfiction reviews;

Inu-babe666 (Won't stay like that for long!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!)

Shiva-SephyandSesshylover (Thank you!!!!! It play a big part in the story later. Yeah, the old man was certainly... interesting.)

kireishi-chan (No caffine, no sugar, no nothing!!! Lol I put it up!!! Ja ne!!!)

Silver Shadow (I debated with myself on whether or not to put it in, but decided I needed a little more Kur/Kag before the fans attacked me.)

star's dreams ('evil grin' You have no idea...)

inu-angel247 (yep!!! lol If it makes you feel any better, I can't pronounce it either. Hope you get better!!!!!!!)

blackestheart (You're very welcome!!! I can't wait to see what you do with Ganko!!! Kagayaki means radiance. I never make anything up, all the words I use are actual Japanese ones, but I don't go to the point where you need a translator to understand what's being said. Though I did have someone ask me what onna meant once...)

Why?What?Shutup (is that a kawaii Aw or a disappointed one?)

SunStar Kitsune (I SAID I wouldn't interruot anymore kisses in Kagome No Kitsune. This is a completely different story, isn't it?)

Sanaka (Ooh, that can't be fun... Doesn't he? He's really not bad, just... err... odd.)

Crying Crystal Teardrops (Thank you!!! Read ahead and find out!!! Not at all!!! Trst me, I've met dumber. Just yesterday my brother was saying I was stupider than him.)

Rainbow Neko Pheonix Hime (DV- Thank, but o sugar or caffine, remember? QFF- I'LL TAKE EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DV- WAK!!! No!!! LIIIIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Makai-Tenshi (Really? Wow, I'm flattered she mentioned me!!!!!!!!!!!! Hi!!!)

sacaku (Thank you!!!!!!!!)

Animefreak242 (Thanks!!! I read your review for KNK!!! I won't say who the villan is. Gotta wait and see!!!! And it's changing. I hope you read ahead and find out!!!!!

Mediaminer;

tbris (No not rethink, she's just whistful, hoping they can make it through. Kag loves Kurama, don't doubt that!!!)

Luscious (You have no idea... it's driving me nuts!!!!! Wow!!! Thanks so much!!!!!!! Like I said before, You hafta wait and see!!! Hehe... Chiisai- You think she's mean to the CHARACTERS?!?!?! You should see what she's like with us muses!!!!!!! DV- Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

RabidFangirl101 ('sniff sniff' 'mourns the loss of caffine.' Yeah, indeed he does. He's oblivious to most anything to do with romance, as you'll come to see. Still, he's gotta tendency of being sweet without realizing it. I can't wait to get him into College!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No, no shoe cloet, though Kag might try once of twice. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

DV- Low Thyroid?!?! Either my doctor needs glasses or I'm more screwed up than I thought...

Chiisai- It might be both, but if I had to choose between them, I'd say the second one.

Koto- 'nods' especially if half the stuff Chiisai says is true.

Furyou- Speaking of which, did you really get dropped on your head?

DV- THAT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE, OKAY?!?!?!?!?!

Koto- once is all it takes, DV.

Kagome- Are you done confusing the reviewers?

DV- Huh? OH! Sorry!!!! These are Koto and Furyou, FoxylilRaven's muses, and they'll be with us for three chapters as punishment for all three of the evil muses for plotting against their wards.

Chiisai Koto and Furyou- 'innocent looks,'

QFF- 'sniff'

DV- Oh!!!! My cousin has a solemn announcement to make. Queenie?

QFF- I'm afraid that with the baby, my parents and school and such, things have become very hectic around my house. I thought I could compensate by just helping my cuz with the beginning/end notes, and stop answering the reviews with her, but even THAT proves difficult now. So, as sorry as I am to say this, I must leave you.

...

Inu- YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kagome- Inuyasha!!!! SIT!!! 'crash!' Don't be so rude!!! Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, Queenie!!!!!!!!!!

Botan- Yes, it just won't be the same without you!!!!

DV- who's gonna help me now?!?!?!?! 'sniff sniff,'

QFF- Don't worry, DV, I'll come in whenever I can!!!!! I just can't do the chapter by chapter thing anymore. Anyways, I'll leave you in capable hands.

Chiisai- 'growling'

QFF- I wasn't sure if DV could handle things all by herself, so I arranged for her to get another muse.

Chiisai- WHY WOULD SHE NEED ANOTHER MUSE?!?!?!?!?!?!

Furyou- Calm down, Chiisai.

Koto- Yeah. I, for one, can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QFF- Wonder why...

Koto- What?

QFF- Nothing!!!!!

Chiisai-You only hafta put up with him for one chapter, though!!!

DV- If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous...

Chiisai- What?!?!?!?! Me?!?!?!?! JEALOUS?!?!?! Oh, that's funny...

Furyou- does she sound jealous to you?

Koto- 'nod.'

QFF- The last disclaimer I can say... 'sniff' DV owns only her original characters. These do NOT include Kireishi, Kat, Katrina, or Eden. Nor do Koto and Furyou belong to DV. She's just borrowing them from FoxylilRaven. By the way, I saw some of your pictures sneaking through DV's e-mail. Really kawaii!!!!!!!!!!!

DV- With that in mind, I'm never leaving my computer on when Queenie's around anymore and enjoy the story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-------------------------------------------------- O.o;;; -------------------------------------------------

.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0 Kurama 0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.

"...four tables, two lamps, a bed, twenty three dishes and nine champagne glasses." Kagome tallied, pacing in front of her son, brother, and the young tajiya. "Anything I'm missing?"

"The window?" Katrina offered in amused exasparation, motioning toward the window in queston. "They busted it playing catch-me-if-you-can with me and Botan." Kagome's eyes narrowed at her son as he laughed sheepishly

"Two tables and the bed were Inuyasha's fault." Kagome's eyebrow kicked up.

"Well, everything considered," She started, slanting a glance towards the accused hanyou, whom Katrina was trying to untie, (Botan had already been freed) "I have trouble seeing that,"

"It's true!!!" Souta defended his nephew, "...it was just before Shippo tied him up." I hid a chuckled behind my hand as everyone else in the room snickered and giggled as softly as they could, so not to attract ill attention from my lady. Her eyebrow was starting to twitch in irritation.

**I heard that.**

::Heard what?:: Youko asked innocently.

**Youko Kurama, you two are anything BUT innocent. **We met her dry look with a small smile, but said nothing.

"Alright then!" Kagome said, sounding eerily like Genkai before she gave Yusuke some evil training to do. "You three can clean the entire house while we go out to eat, and if it isn't cleaned to my satisfaction by the time we get back, you'll have to stay with Jaken and Sesshomaru for the rest of the tournament." The three boys looked at her in horror.

"But it's time for spring development, sis!!!!!!!!!!!" Souta protested, "You know what Sesshomaru's like around this time of year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"And I'm trusting you three will keep that in mind while your cleaning and won't try any funny business." Kagome said with a stern glare. "Move!!!"

::What was Ganko saying earlier about her not being assertive enough for the throne?:: Youko asked in mild amusement.

"Well, then," Yakuso said with a small smile, "Shall we find the others and go out to eat?"

"What are we waiting for!" Ganko asked brightly, "I'm starving!!!"

"You just had 43 egg rolls not half an hour ago," Kireishi said blinking.

"So?" Ganko said innocently. Yari shook her head.

"Heaven help the vixen that has to cook for you," She muttered. Just then, Yari's stomach whined to protest a lack of food.

"You don't have a much room to talk," Ganko countered.

"Hey, I'm eating for two, alright?!?!?!?!"

"No one's going to eat if you two stand here bickering all night," Yakuso said, sending her brother a pointed look and ushering Yari out the door. "Now, let's find the others and go out before the reservation expires."

::Like anyone would cancel a reservation for the mate of a Makai Taiyoukai.:: Youko snorted.

Yukina was the easiest to locate, she'd been exiting Genkai's room as we came to retrieve her. Sango and Hiei were found easily enough. Apparently, he'd interrupted her training, and they 'somehow' got into another screaming match. A small crowd of youkai surrounded them, watching with interest until Kagome broke it up.

However, it seemed Yusuke and Keiko vanished into thin air until...

"I just think we should give them fair warning..."

"Look, he said he was just he politically. I don't think it's smart to get everyone wound up over nothing."

"But this ISN'T nothing, Yusuke! And they're going to find out eventually!!!"

"Who's gonna find out what?" Kagome asked in puzzlement. Hiei's eyes narrowed, and I could tell by his aura that he'd just read one of their minds, most likely Keiko's.

((Well? Find anything?)) I asked.

"GNAH!!!" Yusuke said, jumping, "Why the hell did you guys hafta sneak up on us?! You know it's impossible to sense half of you!" Kagome rolled her eyes and was about to retort.

They encountered the ookami's descendent on their way back from Koenma's room. Kagome's face paled and Sango let out a small gasp.

"KOUGA'S SON?!?!?!" Sango yelled, causing alarm and confusion amongst the non telepathic members of the group.

"Well, actually, it was great grand son..." Keiko corrected meekly. I frowned.

"What?!?!?!" Yakuso asked, startled. "HE'S here?!?! After everything his father has done?!?!?!"

"Mind clearing that up for the rest of us?" Yusuke asked, not to concerned about the disapproving glare Yakuso gave him.

"Is putting two and two together really that hard?" Ganko asked in exasperation.

"...W-well, not really, but maybe you should explain it more thoroughly for Yusuke's sake," Botan said cheerfully.

"Hey!!!" Yusuke growled. Ganko sighed.

"Alright then, pop quiz. Who did King Kurai fight against in the War that wanted Kagome and Souta?"

...

"Do I get multiple choice?"

"YUSUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"The ookami," I answered grimly, as everyone else recovered from the folly of Yusuke's question.

"Exactly," Ganko nodded.

"So his Father was the one Kurai fought against?" Miroku frowned. "And why is he here?"

"Political reasons," Yusuke answered. "At least, that's what he said..." Kagome groaned.

"Perfect."

"What's wrong?" Keiko asked in concern.

"Most of a youkai's political standings depend on who they're descended from, and who they mate." Katrina said seriously.

"...oh." Keiko said with a wince. Yari sighed. And glared at everyone.

"Okay, this is the last straw. We are going out to eat right now, and we are not going to talk about Kouga, or Shijin or Kaigan for the rest of the evening!!! We're going out to eat, party and have fun. NO MORE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any questions?!?!"

"Is there really a need to yell like that?" Yakuso asked in irritation.

"Yari's right," Katrina agreed, "We need to have some fun, and complicating Kagome and Kurama's relationship even more isn't gonna do that."

"That said, to the restaurant!!!!" Yari said, grabbing Miroku's hand and pulling him towards the exit.

"Now hold it right-!" Ganko was cut off when one of the most frightening looks I'd ever seen took over Yari's face.

"Ganko..." she said in a soft, reasonable tone, "I'm hungry, pregnant and look like a truck. Get in my way right now, and I'll also be the new leading general of the Shadow Kitsune army."

"...hehe, lead the way,"

Not ten minutes later, we were all sitting at a private table of the best restaurant in the Makai, five or six waiters around us waiting on us hand and foot.

::This is the kind of treatment I like!!!:: Youko declared. Kagome rolled her eyes.

**Oh?**

((Naturally, the company only makes it better,)) I said playfully, ((Though it is a little overcrowded...))

**Yakuso's paying, so you lose all right to whine, **Kagome said, sticking her tongue out at me. I chuckled.

::Careful, Koi. It's not wise to show that off if you don't intend on using it,:: Youko said wickedly.

**Can you two please not flirt while I'm trying to eat?** Sango asked, wrinkling her nose at my intended.

**Well you're not eating yet, are you? **Kagome countered, **Besides, we sat through your flirting with Hiei. **Sango choked on a glass of water. Concerned, Kireishi hit her back a couple of times, until Sango was gasping for breath.

"Are you okay?" my sister asked the neko in concern.

"I WAS NOT FLIRTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sango yelled, her face a deep red.

"That answers that," Yusuke muttered dryly.

"If you say so..." Kagome said, not sounding too convinced.

"Haven't we told you two about giving us half a conversation?!?!" Inuyasha asked irritably.

"Yes," Kagome answered.

"We just don't listen. The food's here." And indeed, platter after platter of the best food the restaurant had to offer was being carted to our table. Ganko and Yari's orders were especially large, and Yakuso had ordered a Sushi platter for the whole table to share.

After a minor three way fight over who got to pass out the egg rolls between Inuyasha, Yusuke and Kuwabara (Which was proclaimed a tie when Katrina grew impatient and passed them out herself. It took a full six minutes for any of the three to notice.) dinner passed on relatively peacefully. Though despite the relative calm, it was anything but boring.

"I've never had much human food before," Kireishi admitted eyeing the sushi curiously, "Is this good?"

"Very!" Ganko said heartily. "Eat some. You'll like it."

"I don't know..." Kireishi frowned doubtfully, "Besides, if I don't, it will waste some someone else could've had..." Without missing a beat, Ganko broke a piece of his sushi off with his chopsticks, holding it out for my sister.

"Here. Try some of mine." Kagome, Yari and Yakuso blinked in shock as Kireishi hesitated for a moment, before accepting the offering with her own chopsticks and popping it into her mouth, brightening to show she did in fact enjoy the taste.

**That's the first time I've ever seen Ganko share food. **Kagome said in an awestruck voice. I eyed the General warily, unsure of how to react to this, especially since I'd come to suspect my sister had a crush on the young general.

Kagome snapped out of her shock in time to save her innocent egg roll from a less innocent Inuyasha. Luckily, his grumbling stopped what Botan gave him her egg roll as compensation.

The only real bickering was between Sango and Hiei, but everyone was so used to that, they toned it out unless they where listening out of amusement. Their insults always seemed to get worse, after all.

"Really? A scholarship from Koenma?!" Kagome's surprised exclamation pulled me out of my amused musings.

"Yeah, but he said I'm going to have to find my own boarding..."

"Oh, that's easy enough. Mama bought an old five-story apartment building near Tokyo U that she's having renovated for me, Sango, Inuyasha and Kurama. I'm sure there's more than enough room for you and the others as well,"

"Really?!" Keiko squealed. Kagome nodded.

"An apartment, huh?" Yusuke said.

"I've already convinced Queen Yame to put a training arena on the roof." Sango said brightly. "And half the bottom floor is going to be a kitchen, and there'll be a bathroom on every floor-!"

"Alright, alright!" Yakuso laughed, "Think you'll have room for one more?"

"Why? Are you coming?" Kuwabara asked, confused.

"No, but Sesshomaru has decided that it will be best for Rin's education if she spends some time in the school of the people she was born among."

"Really?!?!" Rin asked brightly. Then her face fell, "What's the catch?"

"You have to get good grades." Yakuso answered.

"No guards? No spies?"

"None." Rin grinned.

"YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone laughed as the Inu princess celebrated her newly earned freedom.

The meal went by far too fast for my tastes. As Yari had declared, no unwelcomed suitors were so much as mentioned over the light and happy meal. All that really mattered at the moment were trivial, humorous things. Kagome even told the group of our encounter with the elderly jeweler, prompting Inuyasha to believe he was somehow related to Totosai.

All too soon Yakuso was paying our bill and we were heading out to the hotel again, still talking about the little things we never got to mention in all the chaos that had enveloped our lives now.

"Oh!!!" Kagome said, stopping short, "I forgot my sunglasses!!!"

"Buy a new pair," Rin suggested with a shrug. Kagome shook her head.

"No. I'll go back and get them. You guys go ahead without me,"

"And risk getting beheaded by your mom?" Ganko snorted, "Don't think so, Princess,"

"I'll go with her." I volunteered. Ganko hesitated a moment, the nodded and they all started back.

After they were out of earshot, I turned to Kagome with a smile.

"Is it really necessary to lie like that?" I asked her playfully. She wrinkled her nose at me.

"I wanted to get you alone for a second before we headed back." She replied.

"Any particular reason?" I responded.

"Yes," Kagome answered, nodding her head. "You owe me something,"

"And that is?"

"Well, Our kiss was interrupted by a big jerk with bad timing, so I think it's only fair you give me another," She declared with a pout. I chuckled.

"Why, of course," I purred, pulling her close, "How could I forget?" I captured her lips with my own, molding her body against mine.

The kiss was gentle at first, playful even. But all the stress and anxiety I was feeling over the chance of having her taken away spilled over, and the intensity of the kiss grew to a point where Kagome was moaning softly into my mouth.

Finally we broke apart, and Kagome rested her head against my chest, not pulling away just yet.

"We should probably head back now." Kagome whispered softly, though she made no move to reinforce her words.

"Yes," I whispered back. "We should," But that didn't mean I wanted to.

Finally, though, we pulled apart and headed back to the hotel hand in hand. I smiled at Kagome and resisted the urge to chuckle when I noticed she was watching the night sky more than the path in front of her. How completely Shadow Kitsune...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T COME IN?!?!?!?!?!" A roar broke through My and Kagome's serene silence, bringing us back to the world we belonged in.

"Only inhabitants and expected guests are allowed in the hotel," A doorman said firmly, the cat youkai in front of him snarled in rage.

::She looks vaguely familiar...::

"Tell him I'm here then!!!" She shouted, "I have no doubt my mate will want me here, everything considered!!!!"

"Is there a problem?" Kagome asked in concern. The neko glared at her.

"Butt out!!! It's none of your business, kitsune!!!!!" The doorman, however, stiffened when Kagome and I came into the light.

"Princess!!! No, no problem, this onna simply believes herself to be above the rules."

"Princess? You mean Princess Kagome?!?!" The neko asked incredulously. "YOU'RE the one?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"...I beg your pardon?" Kagome asked in confusion. The neko tossed her hair regally.

::Oh, yeah!!!!:: Youko said triumphantly. ::NOW I remember her!!!!:: Then he went silent for a second before a soft, ::Uh-oh.::

((Uh-oh?)) I repeated in amusement.

"I am Kamu, daughter of one of the most powerful neko youkai in the world, and mate to Youko Kurama."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Furyou- THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE ENDING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Chiisai- You're surprised?

Kagome- DV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DV- Well, Kagome had all these guys chasing after her!!!!!!!! I just figured it was time for a little compitition for our favorite miko!!!!! 'low growling heard from readers.' DON'T HURT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QFF- Anywho, I've got go go, but Before I do, I'm gonna introduce DV's new muse, who I picked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DV- I still can't believe you talked me into this...

QFF- Oh, shush. COME IN!!!!!!!!!!!

Ganko- ...? What the-?!

Koto- GANKOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 'glomps'

QFF- oo

DV- That said, I'm off to an undisclosed location. Have fun!!!!

Chiisai- Huh?!?! Wait!!!!

Ganko- Is someone going to explain things to me?

Koto- I WILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chiisai- --;;; 'sigh' please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	8. Shattered Peace

Sorry for the dalay. I won't bore you with the facts, but rest assured I'm suffering horribly...

Fanfiction;

FoxylilRaven (Yeah, I seem to have a knack for making people want to kill me. At least, that what my friends say... Then again, one of them also claims that Gad and the Devil talk to her whenever she has to make any sort of decisions.)

Kireishi-chan (She actually tried to talk me into writing another story over Christmas Dinner, but I reminded her that I already had enough. 'grins' Kirei-kun, huh? Better than Psychopath. That name follows me everywhere...)

Silver Shadow ('Grins' more mushy stuff coming soon!!!!!!! Hmm... Have you thought of locking him in a room with the most annoying person you know for a day? That usually makes Chiisai behave... Chiisai- 'cringe')

Jinenji (I know. We fans are at the mercy of picky fandoms... 'sighs heavily.')

Celestrial youkai (Hehe... Actually, I think all of them want to hurt me. And quite a few reviewers. I'd love to read your story!!! Only, I can't seem to find it. I tried searching under your name, but no results came up. Mind giving me a title?)

inu-angel247 (KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I HATE POINTY OBJECTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

SunStar Kitsune (Heehee... you'll see!!!!!!!!!)

ptbear (Yeah, I'm a bad girl. I'll try not to make it too long, but I got a lot of ideas, especially for the collage chapters.)

youko's kitsune luvergurl (You'll See! Just wait!!! It'll get alot more twisted as I go on!!!)

Fornax (Yep,)

Fornax (Yep. I'm afraid he's taken, though,)

Fornax (Not as sorry as I am...)

Fornax (Ehehehe....)

Shiva-Sephyandsessylover (Wow!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!!! That's so sweet!!!!!! 'laughs sheepishly' I do actually have a few original works, I just don't post any. My parent's say I have serious self esteem issues... Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

sacaku (Yeep!!!!!! 'hides under blanket' Sorry!!!!!!!!!! And you're not too far off about Kamu. Ehehe...)

Kirin Kage the Shadow Girl (Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

moonbrat (Sorry!!!! Here's the update at least...)

Mediaminer;

RabidFangirl101 (Hang on, I'll do a head count... 'turns around and starts counting,' Yay!!! There were no pointy objects in this review, either!!!!!!)

tbiris (Eh?)

inuyuyu15 (Thanks!!! Sorry about the cliffie... 'glares at random person who snorted' pixie stixs... 'sniffsniff')

amayavixen (I've had those days... evil computers are plotting against us. Wait and see!!!)

Inulovebunny (Nope. Not well at all... if she's really his mate, that is.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

…

…

…

Inu- 'cough cough'

Koto- Okay, this is just creepy.

Furyou- Yeah. It's too quiet!!!!!!!

DV- 'sigh' I miss Queenie…

Chiisai- You're on your own there.

Kagome- Oh, come on! Can't you say something nice about Queenie for DV's sake?!

Chiisai- …can I get back to you on that?

Everyone- -.-;;;

Sango- Ganko?

Ganko- 'shrugs' I've never actually met her.

Inu- Be thankful.

Kagome- Can't anyone say something nice about Queenie?!?!?!

Shippo- She did hang Miroku above a pit of sharks.

Sango- Hey, yeah! Now I miss her too…

Kagome- Same here.

Miroku- -.-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Ganko- Well since everyone else is moping around, I'll say the disclaimer. DreamVixen doesn't own anyone but that snob of a fairy and her OCs.

Chiisai- Why you-!

---------------------------------------------Shattered Peace--------------------------------------------

.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0 Sango 0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.o0O0o.

**_"SHE SAID SHE WAS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"_** I screamed. Everyone else seemed too shocked to speak. Hell, even Hiei seemed pretty surprised.

Kagome gave me a dry look before turning to Kurama, wanting an explanation as much as everyone else. The kitsune sighed.

"First off, Kamu is in no way my mate." (AN; 'sighs in relief as readers take swords away from her throat and smiles nervously at the dirty looks and muttered death threats,')

::Damn right.:: Everyone relaxed, but I frowned at Kurama suspiciously. There was no way I was going to let Kagome get hurt again.

"Then who was she?" I asked.

"She was more of an admirer with a warped sense of reality."

"A what?" Kuwabara asked, confused with the multi-syllable words.

"Ooh…" Ganko said, understanding flashing through his eyes, "A psycho stalker."

"To put it crudely, yes." Kurama said wryly.

"You would know about those, Ganko," Yari said, smirking. "Whatever happened to that one girl again? The one that tried to sneak into your indoor hot spring?"

"Dunno and I really don't care," Ganko said with a grimace. I rolled my eyes. A lot of women would do nearly anything to catch the eye of the youngest, richest, most influential bachelor in the Shadow Kitsune kingdom.

"Riiight," Yusuke said, looking like he didn't want to think about that too hard, either. "Can we get back to Kurama here?"

"How long has she been after you?" Kagome asked.

"It started when my reputation began to pick up. She followed me around, claiming to have fallen in love with me."

"And you never told her to buzz off?" Kuwabara asked incredulously.

"Her father is The Deity of Agony. At first I was wary of ridding myself of her because he might… retaliate." I winced. That was understandable. You don't want to anger a Kami. It just might be the last thing you ever do, "It took me a hundred years to discover her father did not even know of her existence. Apparently, he was quite amorous and had a great deal many children. In fact, he did not keep track of any past his first and second sons."

"Amorous?" Shippo repeated in confusion, "What's that mean?"

"It's someone like Miroku," I explained to the kit. Said monk spared me an indignant look before turning the attention back to Kurama.

"And then?"

"Then she just became another youkai who stalked Youko. She was among the more persistent of his followers, but Youko never gave any sings of wanting to be with her romantically. He found her far too loud and arrogant,"

"You forgot snobby," Kagome said dryly. I blinked at her.

"And snobby," Kurama repeated in bemusement.

**You know, Kagome, you sure sound jealous for someone who was lecturing Kurama about _his_ over protectiveness.**

**I'm NOT jealous!!!! I'm just stating a fact. What do I have to be jealous of? I'm the one he likes, after all.**

"Anyways, we should probably be going." Yusuke said, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, right! We've probably already stayed too late." Keiko said hastily. "Good night everyone!!!!"

There was a round of good byes, and everyone tried not to show that they desperately wanted to know what Kurama was saying when he pulled Kagome aside and whispered something into her ear. Kagome whispered something back and gave him a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek before turning back and giving the group a pointed glare that had the Urameshi gumi hastily leaving.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kagome," Kurama said with a smile at the resident princess.

"Don't forget your promise, Kurama!!!" Shippo said, jumping on top of Kohaku's head. "You promised to play with me tomorrow, remember?" Kurama chuckled as he ruffled the kit's hair.

"I haven't forgotten," he promised the young youkai with a smile before leaving.

I sighed roughly as I headed to bed. This tournament kept getting more and more complicated. Not only was Kagome's love life going to Hell in a hand basket, but There was something wrong with Hiei that he was refusing to tell me about. It was frustrating me to no end. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he closed up on me again!!!

For a moment, I envied Ganko's remarkable talent to stay completely oblivious to any and all romantic circumstances. Sure, it got him into trouble (Especially when he walked in on other people kissing.) but in the long run, he had less to worry about.

God I need a vacation…

_"Hyah!!!!" _I screamed, throwing Hirakotsu at a log sitting upright on a rock. The log split in half, and I caught my preferred weapon easily when I came back to me. it was a ridiculously bright and sunny morning, with birds singing and flowers blooming. Exactly opposite of how I felt.

I'd been practicing since sunrise, trying to get a certain dark haired Jaganshi off my mind. So far no luck, but I did cut enough wood to build two decent sized villages.

I could feel Kagome's mental presence in the back of my mind, as always. Even when we were apart, I knew almost everything she was thinking, feeling and doing. Right now, she was with Kurama and Shippo, playing about half a mile away. She felt so happy and content, I couldn't bring myself to disturb one of her few moments of peace so she could play shrink for her Guard. I knew she wouldn't mind, but I would. What kind of friend could be so selfish?

Anyways, this left me all alone and very frustrated. With an angry growl, I chucked Hirakotsu at a boulder with all my strength, successfully splitting it into millions of smaller rocks, then catching it with an elaborate swinging gesture, letting the momentum of the heavy weapon drag me back a few feet.

I went stiff when I hear clapping behind me.

Immediately on guard, I twisted around, careful to mask my surprise to see a handsome human about 18 or 19 in a nice business suit sitting on a rock with a briefcase at his feet.

**What the…?**

"Very nice, Neko-san!!! Powerful, graceful and full of passion! You're quite a fighter, aren't you?"

"Who are you?" I asked, not answering his question. Smiling, the man stood and walked out towards me.

"Yes, allow me to introduce myself," he said, one hand going into his suit jacket. I grasped my sword on instincts before he held up his free hand in a pacifying gesture ad drew out a business card between his index and middle fingers. "Hariken, Fukuro. I represent Yudoku-san of Yudoku Inc."

"Cut to the chase," I said with a distrustful frown. I was extremely wary of businessmen, especially young one hungry to prove their worth. Hariken laughed.

"You're a friendly one, aren't you?" he asked playfully, "Actually, I was just curious about you. It's a crime that a lovely woman such as yourself would be left all by herself on such a beautiful morning."

"I'm training." I said shortly, "And I don't want to be disturbed."

"Really, Neko-san, what have I done to earn your distrust?" Hariken asked with a suffering sigh.

"It's not that," I said honestly. He had earned that much, what he said was true. "It's simply that you've yet to prove yourself worthy of having my trust."

"And what tasks must a man perform to win such a elite honor?"

"Telling you would make it too easy,"

"Ah, I should've guessed…" Suddenly, the man's attention went to someone behind me, and he was on guard.

"Neko," An all too familiar voice said coldly, "One of the kitsunes is looking for you."

"Considering how many are here, I'm going to need a name," I said, not bothering to turn around. I'd sensed him coming, and even if I was a little mad at him, I still trusted him not to do anything when my back was turned. Besides, he was a welcome distraction from Hariken.

"The warrior vixen working for Koenma."

"Katrina?" I said, a little surprised. I didn't know the vixen all that well, after all.

"Hn." I mentally smiled at Hiei's typical response. No matter how we fought, or even in the rare moments where maybe things might've been a little romantic between us, (maybe) one thing I could always count on was Hiei staying the same. In many ways, this comforts me. No matter how frustrated I get with the Jiganshi, I wouldn't change a thing about him.

"In that case, I'd better go see what she wants."

"She's at the entrance of the hotel." I turned and nodded my thanks to Hiei, surprised to find all his attention on the businessman. And he looked pretty upset, too, if the hand clenching his katana tightly meant anything.

"Katrina!" I called out to the kitsune when I reached the Hotel. She grinned at me.

"Sango! I was looking for you…" I nodded.

"Hiei told me. Is there anything you need?"

"Well, it's not really that as much as I want you to check in on something with me." Katrina said carefully.

"Okay…" I said slowly, watching the spy as her eyes swept around us in a manner that suggested it to be an instinctive habit. I could understand. Someone of her line of work had a lot to watch out for, after all.

"You know Kagome better than anyone else, right?" she asked suddenly.

"Wha-?"

"You're a Henka Neko, right? And Kagome's your royal charge?"

"Yes. But what's that got to do with anything?"

"I'm a little concerned about the neko Kurama was talking about last night. I know I heard her name somewhere before in conjunction with something big, but I can't remember where or why. Anyways, I'm worried about Kagome, and want to try and find the girl, but can't seem to catch any sign of her. Do you think you could give me a hand?"

"Of course! What do you need my help with?"

"You can access Kagome's memories without her noticing, right?" Katrina.

"If I really had to, yes. But I've never felt any need to violate Kagome's privacy that way." I said with a pointed look. Katrina laughed nervously.

"I'm not asking you to violate her privacy. I just want you to feel out this Kamu's energy and take me to where ever you feel it coming from. You don't even have to listen to the conversation between them," Katrina said soothingly, "I just want to check her out and see if she's more dangerous than she appears without worrying Kurama and Kagome." Sighing to myself, I decided that Katrina was right, and plunged into Kagome's mind.

The memory was a fairly recent one, and one that was still troubling Kagome slightly ('Not jealous' my ass) so it was really easy to locate. After quickly memorizing the neko's ki patterns, I left my best friend's mind and rejoined Katrina.

"Got it," I announced, frowning as I mentally scanned the island, "And I found out where she is."

"Great!" Katrina said with a wide grin, "Lead the way,"

About ten minutes later, we were at a large hotel in the city. It wasn't as fancy as the hotel we stayed in, but it was still elaborate.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE FULL?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Our attention landed on the neko currently snarling into a phone. Yep. That was her… "Kick some of those worthless humans out!!! I refuse to stay in this second-rate trash heap and away from my Youko when some kitsune tramp is trying to seduce him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I growled. Ooh, She did NOT just call my sister a tramp… Katrina elbowed me and gave me a pointed look.

"Is that her?" she whispered to me, eyeing the neko as she slammed the phone down.

"Yes. That's her alright." I replied, trying to calm my temper. If we caused a scene, things could get messy very quickly.

"Well, the description fits…" Katrina said, frowning thoughtfully, "As does the attitude. I'll have to double-check it when I get back to the offices, though…" suddenly she 'oophed!' and almost lost her balance when the neko stormed into her, too angry to see them.

"Watch where you're going you clumsy wench!!!" Kamu snarled.

"You're the one who ran into my friend here," I said coldly. Katrina shot me a look.

"No Sango!!!!" She hissed into my ear. "We can't attract attention!!!! That's a very bad move on our part until we know what we're dealing with!!!" Then she turned to Kamu with a smile. "Sorry about that. Won't happen again." No matter what people said about their kind's behavior, Kitsunes were excellent actors. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Kamu continued to glare at me through ever narrowing eyes.

"You reek of that little kitsune princess," She spat at me. I ground my teeth together.

**Don't attract attention… Don't cause a scene… killing a snob in the middle of a fancy hotel lobby constitutes as a scene… happy thoughts!!!!! That's right, think happy thoughts!!!! Kittens, Babies, Flowers, Sunshine, Picnics…**

"You're a Henka Neko, right?"

**…Stars, Fireworks, Fireflies, Cake, Candies, Songs, Hot springs, Friends, Family, Holidays, Dolphins, Horses, Trips to the Zoo, that really good book I was reading before coming here…**

"I guess that means you serve that slutty seductress."

**…Cracking this bitch's skull open with my katana- NO!!!! Bad thoughts!!!! Scene causing thoughts!!!! Think of something else… **Of course my thoughts landed on Hiei. Or, more specifically, certain… activities with Hiei. **GNAH!!!!! Worse thoughts!!!! WORSE THOUGHTS!!!!!!! Naughty thoughts!!!!!! Bad Sango!!! Bad, BAD Sango!!!!!!!!!!!! I've spent way too much time around that Damn monk…**

"Tell me, are you here to deliver a threat from that little whore? If so, I can tell you right now it won't work. I'll use any means necessary to get my Youko away from that bitch."

**Oh, to Hell with this…**

"No. I'm simply here out of personal curiosity, actually," I said in a sugary sweet voice that was actually a lot like Kagome's. "And you know what? Kurama's right. Kagome IS way prettier than you," Katrina groaned as the neko in front of us sputtered indignantly.

"How DARE you?!?!?!?!?! I will not be spoken to in such a way by a common SERVANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I am no servant," I said coldly, "I am Kagome's Personal bodyguard and, more importantly, Kagome is my best friend and little sister. I will not sit by idly and hear her berated by someone who is the things she claims a person she has yet to meet to be," Kamu laughed coldly.

"But I did meet the little bitch. I saw her walking around with a red-haired human last night!!!! Tell me, if she claims to be with my Youko, why were she and that man holding each other so intimately?!" I blinked at her in surprise.

"You don't-" I started, but then I cut myself off.

She doesn't know that he was the man she came here after?

"No matter what Youko told her, he loves me. I know that, and he will acknowledge that in time."

"You're a fool," I hissed, "You're a fool to even think to could compete with my friend."

"We'll see, servant. We'll see." That was all it took for me to finally snap. Snarling, I launched myself at Kamu's throat.

She. _Was.** DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

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DV- 'blowing her nose' Sorry about that. I meant to make this chapter longer, but I've already taken way too long to update, and I'm not feeling too good right now.

Chiisai- Understatement.

Koto- 'Nods' You look horrible, DV!!!

DV- Thanks. -.-;

Chiisai- Her fever's still at 102.3, she can't breathe through her nose, her throat's so bad talking is nearly impossible and moving too fast makes her nearly pass out. She can't eat anything without throwing it back up, either.

DV- At least my temperature went down.

Everyone- -.-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Kagome- Maybe you should lie down, DV…

Sango- That's right. You'll never get better unless you rest.

Furyou- Yeah. Plus your reviewers would feel guilty about killing you in this condition.

DV- That comforting… 'sighs deeply' This has not been my week…

Ganko- Whine later. Get your ass to bed before you get anyone else sick!!!

Furyou- And as for you guys, don't forget to review!!!!


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